Galen Pearl writes 10 Steps To Finding Your Happy Place (And Staying There). Her posts are honest, insightful and wise. Galen is a deeply reflective and spiritual person. To follow her blog, sign up for updates here.Although I possess no special qualifications to answer such a question, I humbly offer a few thoughts.
I spent some time looking updictionary definitions. My favorite onewas simply “freedom from ignorance.” When Buddha was asked if he was a god or an angel, he answered no. The questioner persisted, “Then what areyou?” Buddha replied, “I am awake.” When we are awake in this sense, we are free from ignorance.
When we are awake, we are no longer dreaming. We drop our stories andour judgments, our expectations and our fears, and we see things as they reallyare. We see the basic goodness ineverything, not goodness as opposed to badness, but the basic goodness of essential truth, the goodness that has no opposite.
When we perceive the basic goodness of essential truth, we can relax. We can quit our constant struggle to make things something other than what they are. We can breathe deep breaths of pure joy. Our hearts are at peace.
We become warriors, not warriors of battle, but warriors of presence. Always here, always open, always aware. We move in harmony, with fearlessness and grace.
Does this sound impossible? It isn’t. We have all had moments of enlightenment. Think of a moment whenyou were awed by a brilliant sunset, when you saw your child’s face for the first time, when you stood on a mountaintop or at the ocean’s edge, when you saw death. When you touched, even for a moment, the raw and tender softness of your spirit. When you saw everything, as Einstein said, as a miracle.
Those moments are always available to us. They are only a breath away. A pause, a letting go, an inner smile.
May we all be free from ignorance. May we all be awake.
Namaste.
Galen Pearl
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