Have you ever experienced a time where so much has changed so fast and in a way that affects us all? So much of our outer world is now different and many sacrifices and adjustments have been rapidly made.
And yet, there is a challenging contradiction that I want to offer today in the hope that it could bring you peace. That contradiction is:
What if we could see that nothing has changed?
Before this virus you could have walked out of your home and been hit by a car, lost your job and money or had your house burn down. Your father may have had a sudden heart attack, or your four year old child could have stopped breathing from the flu.
Can you see then, how nothing has changed? How life was always terrifying? How to be born means that you will die- not might, not maybe- you will. There will be illness in every single human body and we are constantly losing things that we love.
Nothing has changed.
It is just becoming harder to close your eyes to the reality of life as the news reports roll in, as your social feeds are bombarded, and as your every conversation turns to this one topic of illness and death. Perhaps this pandemic is not of the virus, but of our fear.
Yet, that fear was always there, underneath the countless distractions of your life. In this way, nothing has changed.
From darkness comes the light
Like many, I came to spiritual practice through fear. The atrocities of illness, death and loss permeated my life as a paramedic. While friends went about business as usual, their minds on fun parties and the good weather, I’d return from a shift with a shocked body and mind.
I needed a way to make sense of this darker side of life, the one that we had so conveniently ignored for so long. The world I saw back then was dark and grim. It left me unable to buy back into the illusion of the “good life” presented to us- that one filled with blind positivity, material wealth and false stability.
While it did not seem so, the loss, illness and death I was witnessing, and the existential fear I felt, was a divine gift. It was a doorway, an opening, a way through to something greater than I ever could have imagined. It was the way to finding one singular life changing truth- real freedom comes from within.
Divine Intervention as the Noble Truth’s
When I was 26, divine intervention found its way to my hands, in the form of a Buddhist book. As I read the Buddha’s first teaching on the Noble Truths– that to be born is to suffer as we can not escape illness, injury and death- I had finally found something that fit into the truth I was seeing in the world.
The Buddha’s truths did not stop at “there is suffering”. Rather the real truth is that there is complete freedom from this suffering and that there is a defined path to find it. With this new path I found the strength I needed to walk through the doorway of suffering that had been opened for me.
This is why I can say with conviction now that this pandemic can be a gift. It has opened up a doorway for us all if we so choose. It has come to guide those who are willing to the path of peace. We can wake up to the truth of life and begin to ask, how can we find true freedom, the freedom that comes from within?
This gift is shining the light on what was always true, we suffer because we are afraid to let go, afraid to die, afraid to lose what we love. We want life to be pleasant and easy and we freak out when it’s not.
Freedom comes from within
All of the great spiritual teachers tell us the same truth- it is possible to be okay, even when our circumstances are tough. It is possible to be free. It is possible to have joy in your heart, even at your last breath. In the words of the Buddha himself, “if it were not possible, I would not tell you that it is so”.
All the great teachers taught the way to inner freedom. In Buddhism it is through the Noble Eightfold Path and in Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutra it is through the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The Ten Commandments, before we got confused added layers of shame and guilt were also a path to peace.
While you can go forth and study these teachings for yourself, today I wanted to share with you a simplified list of what has worked for me.
A path to inner freedom that works
- Stabilise and calm the mind with concentration practices and learn to control your breath
- Be aware of what’s happening around you, and know how you function internally, by cultivating mindfulness
- Have faith in something larger than you, even if it’s just in the “mystery”
- Cultivate a tender heart- ie forgiveness, kindness, compassion- including/especially toward yourself
- Learn to cultivate and call upon spiritual joy that is independent of material things
- Use your thoughts, words, actions, and livelihood (job) to spread kindness and unity
- Be generous, give freely of your time, money and resources
- Find balance (the middle way) and stay out of extremist views
- Be honest, always, with where you are, knowing you are doing the best you can
- Relax, relax, relax.
It sounds so simple, but if you were to truly follow each one of these guidelines you would have plenty to do for the rest of your life. They are a complete path in and of themselves.
In times like these, it’s not about some spectacular new thing, it’s about literally practicing all of what you already know. So, get to work. Make a list, plan your day, fill it with these gifts that take you to peace.
Trust that nothing has changed. Trust in the gift. Trust in the path to peace. Trust that a simple life is a good life, and that freedom really is within.
If you need help in understanding any of these 10 crucial aspects to living a life of inner freedom, please reach out. I am open to coach, mentor or assist. anyone in need during this time.
I have compiled a long list of RESOURCES FOR COVID-19 on my homepage for you. Please use whatever is helpful. If you need more support, we have an amazing group coaching experiencing coming up: Citta Online.
Citta Online: a 4 week group coaching experience to stabilise, calm and support during this unstable time.
$95 or Pay-What-You-Want
