Right now, everything is possible.
Right now, we exist exactly as we should be.
Right now, in this single moment, we can take a breath, be still and reflect as we are. Right now, what we are is enough. Right now, we can sit at the sill of our own window and view the world through a distanced lens, because right now, with each breath we are right here watching. And being right here, to watch, is half the battle. One has to know that one is watching after all.
Let us give ourselves just a few minutes to be still together; even if it’s just as we read this missive. Lets take time to breathe together through the multitudes of right now and allow those breaths to float us onto the peaceful path of being. As we navigate our way forward, let us choose, from our highest regard, the path that we wish to take.
Here now, for just this moment, choose to watch from afar in observation of, not only ourselves, but how we choose to interact in the world. Notice ourselves as we read. Watch ourselves considering, reading more, reflecting with introspection. When we take the time to notice our behaviors, we step away from the behavior itself. Notice that when we notice that we’re noticing we step even farther from the doing. Notice that as we notice we’re farther from doing we notice we’re further and further from messy entanglements and finding ourselves simply being, right now. Seeing right now. Observing right now.
With the distance of this awareness comes choice. If we find ourselves tempted to engage in what we perceive as negative behaviors we can interrogate ourselves gently. What do we have to believe about ourselves in order for this person, event etc. to have the power to move us negatively? What would we have to believe about ourselves to not be moved?
Last blog we touched on the inscriptions at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi – Know thyself. Also inscribed is Nothing in excess. Here we dig into actualizing these ideals.
When strongly considered, it makes sense that a portion of knowing thyself is informed by what we seek in excess. So let us study our excesses and allow our findings to point us in the direction of what we might consider adjusting, so as to find our new equilibrium. It is this conscious path through our own inner landscape, that leads us to observation’s platform. We can only observe that which we see. We can only see when we take the time to look. Sitting with an introspective eye helps us understand our own excesses, even if it is just so that we understand the ways in which we spend the majority of our time. Inside and outside the body.
Spoiler Alert: This is not so that we can sit in judgement of ourselves, rather, it is so that we might know. Knowing what we do seems the simplest thing in the world, after all we are the ones doing. Yet much of what we do is at a subconscious level and unless we bring it to light, we might see what we do whilst never understanding why. Why knocks on the door of Know thyself. Nothing in excess waits on the other side for us to open.
Why we do what we do is the reflection of the internal reality of how we see ourselves. It is only in understanding the inner view that we can truly adjust the outer reflection. In digging at the root of our being we begin to take responsibility for our own existence. Here we strike at the inner workings of true change: When we accept that everything is a reflection of what we believe to be true about ourselves, we understand that our reactions are framed by our worldview. Good and bad things happen to everyone; but how we respond to external influences is based on our worldview. It is how we internalize external happenings. How each one of us internalizes, is through the filter of how we each see ourselves. Reflection, offers the opportunity to understand our own worldview, not judge it. As as we embark on new understandings of ourselves, there requires time for those new understandings to reflect in the external environment.
Here we must be careful to step back and see, as best we can, our whole.
For instance, instead of – We are not lovable because we are alone, step back and see that – we are alone because we have found ourselves infinitely more lovable than our former existence reflected. This is why it is imperative to not sit in harsh judgement, but to look through a gentle lens and give ourselves the grace of kindness. Humor even. To look at ourselves as our highest selves might and take ourselves in with love. It is through love that we see our most honest reflection. Not the love from others, but rather the love from ourselves to ourselves and thus filtered through to the external world.
Nothing in excess.
Life is ours to balance. It is up to us to remind ourselves that we are our own champions, and yes, the champion of others to boot. This is not the law of fairness (har-har), but an actualization of the moral obligation of who we came here to be. Through this lens we see and offer kindness. We see and offer grace. Not because it is what others have earned but rather it is who we have determined ourselves to be. We witness perceived negative interactions as the external reflection of the inner environment of others. We allow those interactions to prompt interrogations of our beliefs about ourselves and to accept that someone else’s reflection of us does not have to align with our own. Here we allow others the opportunity to see that if we are the managers of our own behaviors, then so too are they. Here we give them permission to be who they see fit to be and ourselves permission to disengage when interactions don’t coincide with what we are aligning for ourselves.
We determine this, no one else.
This is where we step to the sill of our window and recognize that just because we see the rain doesn’t mean that we have to stand outside and get wet.
In taking the reins for our own direction, we see that we must have the courage to head where we want to go. In order to see that sometimes obscured path, we scrape together the wherewithal to look at ourselves with a discerning eye and in releasing what no longer serves, we find the path of what is left and carefully make our way forward. It is here, in the forward steps, right now, that we notice we’re taking a breath and in the bright shiny right now – everything is possible and we are existing exactly as we should be.
Here, we understand that what we are is enough.
Here, we begin to see that we always have been. Enough.
