These lessons of enlightenment require a disclaimer. I promise, I am not enlightened. I used to think that I needed to be enlightened in order to be happy, enjoy life, and to stop the suffering I seemed to continue to endure. And on my journey along the way, I’ve seen and learned a few things that have transformed my life. I thought, just maybe, they could do the same for someone else.
So, I wanted to share them.
These are in no particular order. They are not all inclusive or exhaustive. You may have learned other things on your journey, please feel free to share them in the comments below.
Please don’t take these as true for you, without your own investigation or curiosity.
1. The only moment that matters is this one. Seriously, I’m not being cliche about this.
“As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action.” – Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
2. Your thoughts aren’t always telling you the truth. No matter how convincing them seem.
“We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.” – Anonymous
3. Free will lies in your ability to choose which thoughts you believe. Without your choice, you will fall into previous tendencies towards automatic belief or rejection of thoughts based on past conditioning.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Attributed to Victor Frankl
4. You have wisdom in you and it’s probably worth listening to.
“The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself. Everything that you want, you already are.” – Rumi
5. No one else is responsible for your experience of life. Seriously, it’s up to you, always and forever. This may seem like a curse at first, and then you’ll see what a blessing it truly is.
“Placing the blame or judgment on someone else leaves you powerless to change your experience; taking responsibility for your beliefs and judgments gives you the power to change them.” – Byron Katie
6. It’s okay to do nothing, until it makes sense for you to do something.
“Doing nothing often leads to the very best of something.” – Winnie the Pooh
7. There is no such thing as a bad feeling. Although it’s okay to have preferences.
“If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.” – Sydney Banks
8. It’s not about only seeing the positive. The world is neutral, beautiful, ugly, astounding, and dark all at the same time. And yet, all is well.
“Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen
9. Your innate well-being does not depend on external circumstances AND we also live in a material world, and I’m a material girl ;) But what i mean is that it’s okay to enjoy the things you taste, the act of hugging someone. In fact, living your life and experiencing ALL that is has to offer, is probably why we are here.
“There’s nothing you need to do, be, have, get, change, practice, or learn in order to be happy, loving, and whole.” – Michael Neill
10. You are pure love and so is everyone else.
“Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being” – Victor Hugo.
As you may have noticed, I tend to love quotes. They can often say things in a way that I haven’t found to describe concepts or experiences I’ve had. I hope you’ve found them helpful or maybe even inspiring in some way.