Welcome.
This is a collaboration between two Insight Timer teachers,
Daniel Espera and myself,
Elliot Treves.
Happiness is not getting to where you want to go.
Happiness is not climbing the ladder.
Happiness is not choosing the easier path instead of doing what's necessary.
Happiness is a state of being pleased with what is happening,
Regardless of whether it's happening the way you'd like it to go or not.
The world around you could be crumbling before you,
Never to return again,
But you have elevated yourself to a buoyant,
Joyful,
And irrepressible energy.
And once you know this,
Once you become available to it,
There's no turning back.
You are a reflection of the ultimate inner happiness energy.
Are you someone who dances with the devil until it's tired and turns into an angel?
Are you someone who wraps themselves in a cocoon when the world gets dark and scary?
We are all playing in the light and dark of this world.
We all have a journey from light to dark and back to light.
Your inner peace arises when the natural state of being takes root.
Your love blossoms when the fragrance of life reminds you that you are life.
Your divinity saturates your experience of aliveness when embodied truth leaves no room for your programmed boundaries of self.
Within this intention to open up and tend to the fire within,
A compass is of particular value.
Cells will not do.
Preferences and distaste have no relevance.
Possessions and beliefs make no difference.
If the fire burns bright,
You want to cast your cells toward what keeps the fire burning well.
Swimming under control.
You know that you need an anchor.
Vices will not do.
Swaying this way and that have no benefit.
Cheating and excuses hold you back.
If the ship reaches turbulent waters,
You want to drop your anchor until it's safe and appropriate and you are ready for the next exploration.
The tide will get choppy.
The path will get obscured.
The journey will disorientate.
Your strength lies within,
Not in reaching the destination.
The sweet return into the warm arms of your own embrace reminds you that you've been here before.
In another life,
In another form,
You forged to exist.
We all strive to exist in a way that supports us realizing the scope of human potential.
Only some dare to test it without latching on to that which does not serve our selfish nature.
Without selfishness,
No one would be narcissistic or enlightened.
You know that the storm outside is perfect for muddling your navigation.
But you also know that being present,
Going within,
Is the action necessary to end your endless searching.
The kind of searching that forces you to abandon yourself.
The kind of searching that turns you against yourself.
Coming back home to this body and this mind never felt so right until the realization that union with universe was always the only way.
Breathe in.
I am all I need along the journey of peace,
Love,
And divinity.
Breathe out.
I surrender my desire to be in control of everything.
Breathe in.
I am the road to my home,
The path to my liberation,
The journey to my potential.
Breathe out.
I take responsibility for my destiny.
So how do we find peace?
How do we bridge the gap from suffering to acceptance?
We use the power of choice.
We engage our power to choose.
We exert ourselves towards what we can control within us and then let go of what we cannot hold any longer.
Breathe in.
I am all I need along the journey of acceptance,
Desire,
And expansion.
Breathe out.
I surrender my desire to be in control of everything.
Breathe in.
I am the road to my home,
The path to my liberation,
The journey to my potential.
Breathe out.
I take responsibility for my destiny.
We have a choice in how we choose to deal with the pain and suffering.
In this moment,
In this space,
Within this intention to release and go within,
We simply allow.
Let down the silly ideas that we have put in charge of everything.
Or that our problems are so important that we forget to see the bigger picture of life.
Our personal issues are so small compared to what is happening all around us.
In the space for acceptance,
We acknowledge that our psychological mind has enlarged our discomfort to the point where we cannot even appreciate being alive.
Where we feel victimized to the point where we cannot take back our power.
Where we feel that we can no longer just relax in our body,
Breathe deeply,
And smile.
In the space for acceptance,
We suddenly realize that to begin this journey of acceptance,
We must honor how we feel in this moment.
And here is the power of this moment that this situation held by the loving act of your noticing.
You being with what is,
Feeling what you feel about what is.
This is what heals you.
This is acceptance.
This is the space of allowing.
As you breathe a new awareness of acceptance,
A new awareness that is nothing to be fixed.
Notice your peaceful body begins to glow.
It glows because it is honored by your presence.
This attention grows because it is honored by your awareness.
It is honored by being lovingly held for exactly what it is.
With each breath,
The body glowing a little brighter.
Held in this moment by a gentle loving awareness,
Cradled in the lap of your willingness to allow to just be.
Even if it is just for this moment,
This moment is pure acceptance.
It is a practice and you have begun.
Beautifully,
You have created space and welcomed yourself home.
This was You
