Our present personalities are basically the combined habits of this
lifetime (birth), built on the combined habits of previous lifetimes
(births), all of which have left their mark (sometimes deep and sometimes
not so deep) on our consciousness. It may well be that habits such as
becoming angry, upset, anxious, stressed, sorrowful or scared, have been
with us for so long that, they feel a natural part of our inner world, so
natural that when someone says our true nature is not anger but peace, not
fear but love, not aggression but acceptance, not anxiety but calm, it does
not feel right. And even if it did feel right for a moment, we have become
so attached to our old habitual moods, emotions and behaviors that we do not
really want to change. It may even be the case that we have become so weak
that we need help to change. It seems much easier to stay the way we are.
As we begin to meditate and develop our spiritual practice, our views on the
above subject will fluctuate. When that does happen, imagine you are having
a conversation with yourself and teaching yourself. *Give yourself
permission to be peaceful by nature, full of love and joy by nature,
naturally content by nature, wherever you are and in whatever you do.* *After
a while, you won't need to give yourself permission and you will find these
states of being are there within you quite naturally at every moment. They
are our original and eternal nature. Everything else is acquired or
learned. *In so many ways introduction to spirituality, like many other
approaches to inner awakening, is as much about *unlearning* (the acquired
beliefs) as it is about *learning* (new beliefs).
lifetime (birth), built on the combined habits of previous lifetimes
(births), all of which have left their mark (sometimes deep and sometimes
not so deep) on our consciousness. It may well be that habits such as
becoming angry, upset, anxious, stressed, sorrowful or scared, have been
with us for so long that, they feel a natural part of our inner world, so
natural that when someone says our true nature is not anger but peace, not
fear but love, not aggression but acceptance, not anxiety but calm, it does
not feel right. And even if it did feel right for a moment, we have become
so attached to our old habitual moods, emotions and behaviors that we do not
really want to change. It may even be the case that we have become so weak
that we need help to change. It seems much easier to stay the way we are.
As we begin to meditate and develop our spiritual practice, our views on the
above subject will fluctuate. When that does happen, imagine you are having
a conversation with yourself and teaching yourself. *Give yourself
permission to be peaceful by nature, full of love and joy by nature,
naturally content by nature, wherever you are and in whatever you do.* *After
a while, you won't need to give yourself permission and you will find these
states of being are there within you quite naturally at every moment. They
are our original and eternal nature. Everything else is acquired or
learned. *In so many ways introduction to spirituality, like many other
approaches to inner awakening, is as much about *unlearning* (the acquired
beliefs) as it is about *learning* (new beliefs).
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