How do you want to show up?

“For a minute, forget about those things you can’t actually control. Let’s start with you.”

Who do you want to be? How do you want to show up? How do you want to feel?

You’d think we would have learned by now. We keep trying to change others, or change the elements that make up our life circumstances. But this whole system—the nature of people and their relationships to the world around them—all of this seems designed to teach us that our best chance at finding happiness and peace is to accept that we are powerless to change anything but ourselves.

[...]

The happiest people I know all understand that the most impactful changes they can make in the world are the changes they make in themselves. They know they can change how they respond to others. They know they can learn to be at peace regardless of their external circumstances. They know that these personal changes tend to have so much more of an effect on others than anything we do to try to convince others to change.

And that’s a relief, isn’t it? It means we really do own the power to be our best and to be happy because that power comes from within rather than from without.

From http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/09/this-is-what-every-happy-person-i-know-understands/

We probably all understand that the very rich can be very unhappy, and the very poor very content. It seems we know on an intellectual level that our attitude defines our happiness, not our circumstances. He who wants it all can't rest until he gets it... she who wants nothing already has it.

But how many of us practice the wisdom this understanding teaches us - that it is within our power to alter our attitude, to seek happiness within rather than without?

Probably plenty of us here :laugh: but I thought this was worth sharing regardless.

Thanks for sharing, its an important topic IMO.

I think it's about removing oneself from being the centre of the universe, and putting value into all things around you, and seeing things for what they are and not what you might want them to be.

Though that then begs the question, do we also extend seeing them for what they are to include seeing what they can be & how much is appropriate to support or be involved with that. Perhaps something like Wu Wei could encompass that non-judgmental view and can serve as a basis or ground... and then the path proper (ie not sitting still and 'viewing') becomes about processing change and taking action which might be more about Wu Xing, Bagua and TCM for outer, general and inner dynamics of action. Which could sort of imply that the Yin Yang concept as the basis might be a great vehicle to exercise that initial dissolving of the self centered awareness into a more receptive non judgemental ground for the stream of Wu Wei to flow and feed the trees perhaps cultivating the fruit of Ziran, or put out the fires that need to be put out!?
:silly:

As Campbell would have put it: in order to get out of the constant cycle of suffering, greed and mutual one-upmanship, you need to die and be reborn. This is easier said than done - while parts of our lives may be a hellish mess, others are also quite comfortable. So in order to achieve this rebirth, we need to get off our lazy butts first. I guess this is the reason why most people never do anything about their situations