“The world I see is but a projection of me”. I can blame everyone and everything in the world as much as I want, but until I take responsibility for the thoughts in my mind, I will never find peace of mind.
We make so many snap judgments every minute of our lives, that it takes a monumental stepping back from our thoughts to see that they are only thoughts, and that we have become those thoughts. But step back from them we must, if we want to really see what they are and how they affect our lives. When I say “He shouldn’t do…she should…why don’t you…he is…she…” etc. etc. etc. then I have already clouded my view of a person. I am looking at them through my eyes of how the world should be. When I say to myself, “These thoughts I am having about this situation are NOT WHO I AM, but rather who I think I am”, then I make a space inside myself. I can begin to see that these judgmental thoughts are a way of thinking.
A key question in Byron Katie’s “The Work” at www.thework.com is “Who would I be, in the presence of this person, if I didn’t think this thought (or these thoughts)”? The mind doesn’t want to let go of the judgments. They swirl like autumn leaves in the wind, enticing with the emotion of superiority (I’m right – they’re wrong), and they most certainly want to retain their hold on your mind. (I highly recommend Byron Katie’s work as a most powerful tool for cutting through the mind stories we create, bringing light and clarity to our thinking).
Yet creating a space between who I really am and all those judgments is what begins the healing process inside. There is only one person that we can heal, and that is inside each of us, and ultimately that one person is all of us since we are all one at a deeper level. You cannot separate the ocean from the ocean at it’s deepest level, though it appears that you may separate the waves on the surface.
I have found this to be applicable to any situation in my life. If I don’t like the look of the environment I am in, or the situation, I can still separate out what I think about this situation or environment, and who I really am. And who I am is not my thoughts. I am Life, Source, Divine Intelligence, Energy, The Presence, or any other name I choose to give this Magnificence – all names are merely pointers to the truth.
