The Greatest Obstacle in Your Life is Yourself

Every experience you have is ultimately neutral by nature.

By this I mean that the way something makes you feel or the way an experience feels to you, is completely due to your own perspective, to your own subjective belief about the matter. Now obviously, this does not apply to situations where you are suffering at the hands of someone else. Be it physical or psychological pain, these circumstances are due to the imbalance in someone else life, an imbalance in the way they view you and themselves. But that discussion is a completely different topic, and it is not within the scope of what I want to say to you today. But let it be clear that the outcome of all experiences, excluding the ones where someone is exerting their will over yours, are completely up to you.

Let me put this another way.

Your own perceptions of the reality in which you currently exist determines the way your reality unfolds.

For example, if you are in a situation where you feel that there is external pressure or expectations on how you should be acting, or what you should be doing, the truth is this pressure, these expectations come from within. This is true because once you realise this, and if you are able to change your perception, you will free yourself from the anxiety of these seemingly “external” influences. Look deeper and you will see that these are not in fact external to you, they are in fact a part of you. A part of you that you choose to embrace, over a better alternative which is also within you.

It really is your choice in how you respond to a given outcome or reality that determines how you feel, and ultimately how that experience shapes your very being. Seriously, think about this and look inside you – you will see that everything that worries you, everything that you are afraid of, everything that you don’t like about reality is due to your misperceptions and your own internal unrealistic expectations.

Its a strange thing to consider how your very thoughts, your very ideas about your reality are what can shape reality itself in such a profound way. Eventually you realise that all these thoughts and ideas lead to the creation of what we call emotions, and it is through these emotions that we as humans have the ability to interact with our experiences in a way that words cannot. Yes it is true that words can evoke emotions, but it is the emotions themselves that are felt – and these are indescribable.

The bottom line here is that you should be kinder to yourself, to give your self a break, to not create these unrealistic expectations of yourself and of this current experience we call life. After all, we are only here for but a few moments, so do not waste them worrying about simple things. For these simple problems that we allow to overwhelm us are nothing compared to the ultimate reality of our existence – to learn, to love and to live right here, right now.

The Art of Slowing Down

Our current society’s paradigm compels us to do more, to work harder and to occupy every second of our day with endless tasks and hopeless activities. Well, it may not always be that bleak, but the reality is that for many (myself included) the overwhelming pressure from society strongly encourages us to always be doing something. The “ideal citizen” is considered an individual who is highly productive, one who contributes to society. This is something I have a very hard time accepting. There is nothing wrong with contributing to society in our own way, but it should be done with the right intentions. Because the very notion that a “good citizen” or a “good person” for that matter, is one who is solely productive is completely absurd! I’m not saying that the desire to achieve, or the ability to get things done is a negative trait – it is in fact something that it quite admirable. The issue is the way in which productivity is defined. In general, this is conceptualised as the one who can produce the most things or a group of workers who can do the most work, in the least amount of time. It’s all about doing as much as possible, with minimal downtime. It is driven by our big business and government interests and their desire to maintain the depressingly pointless linear growth trend. It all comes down to maximising profits, to increasing yield – more than ever, bigger than before and right now without a moment to lose!

This is completely insane. And I will tell you why.

This desire to constantly outperform, to increase production capacity and to maintain that linear growth will ultimately never satisfy us. As human beings we will never find true purpose within such a lifestyle. And that is because this lifestyle, perpetuated by capitalist ideals, has all the wrong intentions. It really is a simple case of choosing quantity over quality. And thus, the basic problem with this system is that it is grounded in the desire to attain as many “things” as possible. This is evident within a typical business model and also within the consumer based lifestyles that many of us live. Since this is the starting point for many individuals, there is inevitably going to come a time where this will no longer be enough – because the pursuit of material things, or immaterial things such as popularity and status, will always leave us wanting more – forever chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This is truly a hopeless way to exist.

Instead, consider taking a different starting point. One which is fundamentally about pursuing quality, instead of quantity. This is not necessarily to be considered in business models alone, but rather as an individuals choice to seek out the experiences which provide us with more than just “stuff”. With this perspective, one will go about things in a vastly different way. Because now, instead of trying to fit in as many errands and activities as possible, ones primary focus will be about creating quality experiences through our daily habits and tasks. Now this is a much better way to approach things. On my journey I’ve realised that in order to do this, in order to live a life based on quality, one simply has to slow down.

Slowing down isn’t always about doing less and it’s definitely not about decreasing the amount of energy you put into a given task. Instead, slowing down is simply taking your time to do things properly, with full awareness of you intentions and actions. It’s about observing what we are doing each day and increasing our understanding of why we are doing the things we do. It is based on the fundamental concept of giving ourselves permission to enjoy each activity we do, to breathe and to understand how each action in our lives is part of our continual journey in this world.

By slowing down one starts to become present, to experience each and every moment for what it is. Regardless of whether it is an enjoyable task or a monotonous one, you begin to fully immerse yourself in that given activity. And the benefits are endless. The quality of your work drastically improves because you are investing your energy in a much more efficient way. Your enjoyment increases because you are no longer concerned with simply getting something done, instead you are focusing on completing that task to the very best of your ability – and once it is completed you can marvel at your achievements. Your food will taste better, books and articles will be more interesting and your ability to retain knowledge and recall information will be improved. Most importantly, your level of stress and anxiety over completing a task will gradually dissipate. This is because your mind and body will slowly adjust to this new pace and in doing so, it will become more relaxed and more present. Your thoughts and words will become more coherent as you are now no longer preoccupied with thinking and speaking for the sake of achieving a set target or purpose but instead your ideas and verbal expressions will be about expressing yourself in a way that is true to your being. You will no longer feel the pressure to rush through life, chasing unrealistic goals and expectations. Instead, you can breathe and take comfort in knowing that in every thing you do and every word you speak, you have created something unique, something which represents the best you can do and the desire to be the best version of yourself.

Walking The Path

I am a Humble Learner. Or at least, I try to be one.

Each day on my journey is a new opportunity to learn, grow and develop my being. Early on in my journey I came across Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. This book was instrumental in leading me back to my path, to realigning my energy with my true self, or at the very least – it opened my mind in a way that I knew would change the course of my life forever. Through his simple zen teachings, I began to see how maintaining the mentality of a beginner is essential to learning and understanding not only myself, but this strangely beautiful thing we call reality. I am in no way aligned to a specific religion, but I have found sincere meaning in many zen texts, the simple teachings have proved an effective way to approaching life. During my teenage years I was convinced that I understood life, that somehow I had a thorough understanding of the universe and a belief system that would serve me well in the “real world”. But, as I was to find out, I actually knew very little at all. With my inflated ego and false confidence, little did I know how poorly equipped I was for navigating the path that I was to follow. Looking back on the past few years, I now understand why the second decade of the typical modern-day human life is often considered a period of finding ones self. That is not to say that I have found myself or that I even fully understand what the self is. But I have, without a doubt, recognised that I am here, that we are all here, to learn and grow – to understand ourselves and the universe through direct experience of each moment, and all the happiness or suffering that it brings.

Happiness and suffering. Seemingly polar opposites, but as I am slowly beginning to understand, they are both crucial to our growth as conscious beings. Suffering is a condition of the soul, when we have either strayed from our true path, made decisions that go against the core of our being, or as a cosmic test created by the universe in order to help us grow. There is much more that could be said about the notion of suffering. And there is of course physical suffering, but that is not something I wish to delve into right now. Instead, consider what happiness is. Happiness is simply the absence of suffering. Happiness is what we experience when we are fully embodied in our true self, when we are walking the right path. Through both the pains and struggles of suffering and the joys of true happiness, there is always a lesson to be learnt. And that is why I am writing these words, for the internet and for myself today – in the hope that I can use the freedom of writing to help myself and others grow towards the light and away from the eternal cycle of suffering, to be free from samsara.

I have come to learn the value in writing things down. Too often we rush through life, without taking a single moment to pause, reflect and observe the mind. Yet with writing, one can focus their attention on raw, instantaneous expression – allowing the thoughts and ideas of the mind to be expressed in written form, to be captured indefinitely. So, it is for this reason that I will be writing as often as I can. This is a sort of experiment for me. It will be interesting to see where this goes and to be able to look back and see where my journey has taken me. Through meditation and mindfulness, psychedelics and consciousness expansion, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, floating, reading and writing I continue to explore new aspects of my own being, and the consciousness that is the infinite expression of all that ever is and ever will be. A lone wanderer in a magical, beautiful and terrifying world –  I continue to walk the path.