Do you feel rushed reading these words right now? Welcome to the modern world of constant connectivity! And the faster our pace of life, the more essential it becomes to nurture our inner life for resilience.
We live in an amazing time, as futuristic as the Jetsons gold star trek sagas that some of us grew up with. I love being able to connect face-to-face with customers on the other side of the world or download a song in a second. However, this ongoing connectivity also poses a challenge: Many of us have trouble switching off from all the intensity for a little peace and quiet. Our inner life can quietly wither even as we chase after the outer holy grail of success.
The more we spread out, the more we skim the surface of our outer lives, never digging deeper. And since technology can track us almost anywhere, at any time, there seems to be literally no escape!
Trying to keep up can take a huge toll. That stress manifests itself in weakened immune systems, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and digestive disease.
What is needed is more resiliency: the ability to bounce back from setbacks and challenges, similar to the elasticity of a rubber band that returns to its original shape after being stretched.
Resilience can be built with practice, just like muscle strength can be built with exercise.
The process of building resilience begins with a reminder that our true nature is eternal and not limited by time. We literally need to unplug and remember that our souls exist in timelessness. The poet EE Cummings put it this way:
“How lucky are you and me
whose home is timelessness:
We who have wandered
of fragrant mountains of eternal now
romp in such mysteries
like birth and death
one day, or maybe even less…”
By connecting with the eternal nature of the soul, we regain our inner sense of balance. We can learn not to push into the future, nor run from the past, but to walk our path in this present moment with leisurely grace. Lama Surya Das calls this place of the eternal present “Buddha Standard Time”. In his book with the same title, he quotes Liu Wenmin, an early 16th-century poet on how to make peace with time:
“Being able to not be in a hurry when you are in a hurry;
Being able to not slack off when relaxed;
To be able not to be afraid
And not knowing what to do
When you are scared and lost;
This is the learning that gives us back
To our natural state and transform our lives.”
The busier we are, the more we need time away from the rat race to regain perspective and renew ourselves from within. It is our inner life that ultimately sustains us, not the outer bells and whistles.
Honoring your inner path of truth is essential to a meaningful life. Research by hospice caregiver Bronnie Ware showed that number one the regret of people who die is to wish they had had the courage to live a life true to themselves, and not the life that others expected of them.
How do we respect our internal compass in the midst of life’s hectic demands so that we can live without regrets? Three concepts come to mind: Stay faithful. Stay present. Follow the energy.
- stay true.
A commitment to the truth, at all levels, is automatically a commitment to freedom. It is always the truth that sets us free. And where the Higher Truth prevails, why would anyone need to lie?
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius advises his son Laertes:
“Be true to yourself, and it must follow, as night follows day, that you cannot be false with any man.”
Any “security” gained through the loss of inner freedom is actually submitted to fear at the cost of integrity and truth. A nation that puts national security above personal freedom has lost its true power base. In saying this, I am not suggesting that a country should suddenly lower its guard against all enemies (both real and imagined). I am saying that addressing the external problem before addressing the internal conditions of consciousness that created it simply will not solve the problem.
That is why politics is not the answer to what ails the human condition. Politics is like a coach that seeks to harness and train collective energy so that it works for the good of all. Ultimately, it will only succeed at the lowest common denominator.
True freedom is an inner work that begins with raising consciousness on an individual level by aligning with the Higher truth. That alignment fosters confidence, resilience, and trust.
- stay present.
Stay in the Now. The past and the future are always attached to it. Don’t let the hustle and bustle of the world rob you of this priceless gift of NOW.
That means you need to make peace with your past in order to live without regrets. It also means that you must free yourself from the need to control the future because that is an illusion that causes unnecessary anxiety.
You and I don’t know what the future will be like because it hasn’t manifested yet. There is no other human being who can accurately predict how life will unfold, because the future is created through a myriad of possibilities and individual choices that ultimately manifest when conditions are right.
There are simply no veterans or professionals to know where humanity is headed now: it’s new to all of us. The choices you and I make in each present moment will collectively decide the future that unfolds for us. So let’s cultivate our inner resilience and stay true to our path here and now!
- Follow The Energy.
Let your body be your barometer. It will show you what you really need. You always create the perfect scenarios to get what you want. Really need.
There are no good or bad energies. All people and things are just Energy…which is essentially neutral. The energy is as neutral as the electric current that illuminates both a cathedral and a drug laboratory.
Some energy frequencies may seem particularly helpful and appealing to you because of where you are in your individual consciousness at the moment. Other frequencies can repel for the same reason. That doesn’t make them good or bad; they are simply useful for your journey at this particular time or not.
Pay attention to the things that attract or repel you; they are clues to what you need to do, choose or say to move forward on your path.
Together, these three principles can help you cultivate a richer, more resilient inner life, no matter how much turmoil you face around you.