Audiobook: The Inner Path - Chapter 16: The Power Of Giving

"The Inner Path: A Guide to Living a More Mindful, Fulfilling, and Spiritual Life" by Geoff Bell-Devaney

Chapter 16: The Power of Giving

There is a path to greater happiness and fulfillment within each of us. As we begin exploring this inner path, we will begin to truly know ourselves. We will start growing in awareness, wisdom, and inner peace. This audiobook version of The Inner Path: A Guide to Living a More Mindful, Fulfilling, and Spiritual Life can help you successfully navigate this inner path. It can help you awaken to your inner truths and your true self - to the infinite depth of peace, presence, and power that is within you.

Transcript

Chapter 16 The Power of Giving We often assume that money,

Success,

And material possessions will shield us from life's discomforts and the painful emotions that accompany them.

We perhaps imagine that if we can control our environment,

We can somehow hide from our unwanted feelings and remain in a constant state of pleasure.

And our world supports this.

Advertisements constantly encourage us to buy this or do that,

Luring us toward ever greater comfort.

Yet as we continue buying into them,

We can quickly find ourselves trapped,

Thinking that if we keep consuming,

We'll eventually become happy and whole.

But isn't it true that we do feel more excited and alive when we make a new purchase?

Don't we actually feel as if we are more when we have more?

If we look closely,

However,

We may see that on some level,

We're decorating our homes and filling up our closets so that we can always feel good.

Now,

There's nothing wrong with a beautiful home or beautiful clothing or a new car.

However,

These things often become more than just useful and enjoyable objects.

They become a way to cover up any discomfort that we feel within.

Yet,

We may find that we actually do feel better or worse if we're plagued with regret after we eat a big meal or spend an afternoon buying clothes.

But just as we will surely become hungry once again,

That new dress or shirt we bought will inevitably become just another like all the rest.

It seems that we always want more.

This constant state of desire not only deprives us of the ability to acknowledge that the possessions we already have are enough,

But it makes it very difficult to realize that we are also enough.

When we base our self-worth on external accomplishments or the things that we have,

We can quickly lose sight of the beauty that's found in every moment and the reality that we are already enough exactly as we are.

Life is constantly providing us with situations that are designed to help us accept and learn from all of our emotions.

Instead of embracing these opportunities,

However,

We often run from them,

Ignore them,

Or push them away.

We tend to judge our emotions and spend much of our time chasing the good ones and avoiding the others.

This is not unlike how we refer to rainy days as terrible and sunny days as great.

The truth,

Of course,

Is that sunshine is no better than rain.

They're both important parts of our experience,

And we need both to survive.

And just as we cannot harvest a rich crop in a dry desert,

Where,

By the way,

They often dance when the rains come,

One man's pain being another's pleasure,

We cannot hope to find a rich and fulfilling life by only investing our time in activities that make us feel good.

As we begin letting go of our constant search for pleasure,

However,

And start embracing all of our emotions,

We'll find ourselves growing in awareness and inner peace and living more fully in the moment.

As we start accepting our feelings instead of constantly resisting them and taking from the outside world to cover them up,

We'll discover a life of greater happiness and fulfillment,

And we'll also begin to understand that true happiness and fulfillment don't actually come from taking,

But from giving.

By shifting our focus from taking to giving,

We'll start to heal our wounds and reclaim our inner peace and strength.

We'll begin integrating all of our emotions and become more balanced and whole.

We'll start living in greater harmony with ourselves and with life.

And while the opportunity to do this is available to each of us in every moment,

Because we may have spent so much of our lives taking,

It might be hard to fully understand what it means to do this.

Perhaps the easiest and most important way to understand the power of giving is by looking at ways that we can give to ourselves in those moments when we're feeling uncomfortable emotions.

Rather than taking away our power by running from them,

We can instead begin giving to them,

Giving them our attention,

Acceptance,

And love.

In order to begin giving to ourselves in this way,

However,

We have to decide that enough is enough and make the courageous decision to finally stop hurting ourselves and distracting ourselves no matter what might be happening in our lives,

No matter what we might be feeling.

We also have to begin giving compassion to ourselves for those old ineffective and often painful ways that we used to express our emotions or find relief from them.

And instead of continuing to engage in these activities,

We have to simply choose to begin gently embracing whatever we might happen to be feeling and allow it to be exactly as it is,

As it wants to be.

It is important to understand that we can't actually run or hide from our emotions.

We have to realize that doing this ultimately will not help us.

It will not work.

We have to,

Instead,

Begin accepting whatever we're experiencing and start being kind to ourselves.

We have to start taking care of ourselves.

We have to begin gently holding all of our painful emotions with patience and purpose,

With love.

We also have to realize that if we keep taking and hurting ourselves with our overindulgences,

If we keep numbing ourselves to our pain,

We're only going to keep suffering.

Until we give our attention and acceptance to our discomfort,

Until we truly allow it to be,

It will not shift.

Until we honor it and heal it by giving it our love,

It will remain alive within us.

It will not go away.

As we begin to give acceptance,

Compassion,

And love to ourselves,

However,

Then our pain will begin to transform and we'll start to heal.

And then our scary emotions won't have to come around so often.

Then they will begin to fade away.

Until we decide to give to ourselves in these ways,

However,

They will stick around because when we choose not to acknowledge our emotions,

When we try to cover them up or run from them,

We are really only just resisting them.

And the more that we resist them,

The more they will strengthen and build,

Which invariably will just make us want to run from them even more.

Can you spot the vicious cycle here?

And the more that we do that,

The more they will just want to be heard and the louder they will become,

The more desperately they will try to get us to hear their frightened calls and have us console them,

To give them our attention and acceptance.

When we can be there for them,

However,

When we can give them our presence,

Patience,

And love,

Like a parent would give to a child,

They won't have to scream so loudly for our attention.

They will feel seen and heard and begin to trust us,

And we will begin to trust ourselves.

And over time,

They won't have to hang around so much,

For when we let it be okay for them to stay,

They won't need to.

They'll be free to go,

To move on.

And so will we,

Finally unburdened by the weight of these different parts of our inner experience that we've been resisting for so long,

We'll be free to live in greater peace and more able to give to others and ourselves.

We have to realize,

However,

That ultimately no one else can do this for us.

No one else can truly give us the love and attention we need.

Only we can do this.

Only we can stop taking from the world to cover up our pain.

Only we can stop hurting ourselves again and again.

Only we can run to ourselves when we're upset.

Only we can truly accept what we're feeling.

Only we can remember to soften our body and our breath.

Only we can turn the power of our awareness inward and gently hold ourselves like a parent would hold a scared and wounded child,

Compassionately soothing their fears and their pain.

Only we can truly take care of ourselves in these deep and beautiful ways.

Only we can truly love ourselves.

And this love that we can shine on ourselves is like no other.

It is the most powerful and direct form of love that anyone can give us because,

In its purest sense,

It is free from the constraints that inhibit the love another person might be able to show us.

For no matter who they are,

No matter how emotionally healthy they are,

And no matter how much they may love us,

These other people are humans and have their limitations.

And most importantly,

They are not us.

They are not inside of us.

They are separate from us.

They will never know what we're feeling or understand our pain to the same degree that we can.

Other people cannot love us as deeply and purely as we can.

No one else can.

Only we can.

Only we can shine the powerful light of our own love and awareness on our inner wounds.

Only we can do this.

Only we can truly love ourselves.

So the next time you're experiencing unpleasant emotions,

Practice giving love to yourself.

Imagine that you are a child and do your best to gently hold yourself and all of your discomfort within your awareness.

Just do your best to feel it,

To allow it to be.

Simply accept your pain.

Just acknowledge that you're feeling whatever you are feeling.

If you're scared,

Let it be okay to be scared.

If you're angry,

Let it be okay to be angry.

Simply let it be okay to feel whatever energy you're experiencing and do your best to accept it.

And if you're having difficulty accepting the pain,

If it's too strong or intense,

Then simply do your best to accept your inability to accept it.

Just accept whatever you're experiencing with patience and compassion.

Just give your awareness,

Your love,

To whatever you're experiencing.

As we continue giving love and attention to ourselves in these ways,

We'll start to move out of our old patterns and begin integrating all of our emotions.

We'll start to feel more whole,

Empowered,

And peaceful,

And we'll be able to live more fully and authentically in every moment.

And this giving attitude is something that we can extend to other areas of our lives as well.

In order to do this,

We simply have to begin observing our actions and intentions as we make our way throughout each day.

By engaging in this type of inquiry,

We will discover how we might shift our perspectives and become more giving in heartfelt ways that leave us feeling more connected to ourselves,

Others,

And life.

We can begin doing this by asking questions and investigating our attitudes about everything in our lives,

Including something as familiar as the food we eat.

For example,

Do we choose our food based on its nutritional content and life-giving properties,

Or do we just take whatever happens to be quick and handy?

And when we're eating,

Do we race through our meals,

Or do we give ourselves the gift of savoring our experience?

Do we give ourselves time to finish what we're chewing before taking another bite?

And do we occasionally eat to numb away our fears,

Or do we give ourselves healthy boundaries that honor all of our emotions?

After all,

We're not only what we eat,

But how and why.

And we can extend these queries outward as well.

For example,

Do we consider where the food we buy comes from and how our purchases give back to the economic system as a whole?

Are we just taking from the corporate factory farms with all of their callous efficiency,

Or are we giving our money to those farmers who are choosing to grow food in ethical ways where workers,

Animals,

And crops are being given the gift of respect that they deserve?

And are we considering how our food purchases affect the environment?

Are there ways that we might give back to it by making choices that support sustainability and the health of our planet?

And while these are just a few examples of how we might investigate but one area of our lives,

There are countless ways that we can do this,

Just as there are countless ways that we can give.

We're constantly led to believe that something out there,

Something outside of us,

Will make us feel whole.

Yet it is in the act of giving that we can begin to more clearly understand our true selfless nature.

As we practice giving to ourselves and to life,

We'll begin to realize that our hearts and our minds are already full,

And we can begin caring instead of consuming,

And giving instead of grabbing.

We will also begin to realize that the only way that we actually can give is if we have enough,

If we are enough,

And we are.

Reviews

Powerful talk of self- compassion to ourselves. We are enough ☀️☺️💚🙏🏾✨️