Many people find meditation to find relief from their problems.
They want to feel more peaceful.
They want to have a general sense of well-being.
And so with that,
We can think that the whole point of spiritual growth is to relieve us of our suffering so that we can live more peaceful,
Easy lives.
And I know for me,
When I had my first big meditative opening,
I thought I found the secret.
Like literally,
I thought I was gonna live a life free of suffering.
I find this is happiness.
I thought I was gonna live blissfully ever after.
Of course,
I was naive and those things don't last.
As I've gotten more mature,
What I've learned is that the opposite is true.
That spiritual growth is not just about living in the light and feeling better and relieving our suffering,
But it's actually much more about going in to our suffering,
Of seeing that the daily frustrations,
The petty arguments,
The triggers that show up,
The emotional chaos,
That is where our spiritual growth really is.
Meditation cushion.
And so a mantra that I'd like to offer you is every trigger offers treasure.
When you notice yourself going through your day,
And you get stirred up in some way.
That is a sign to go inwards.
To not go outwards and blame other people,
But to go inwards and say,
Hmm,
What is at the root of this?
How can I understand what's really going on?
And what you might find is that you're triggered because of something that happened when you were 13 years old.
And that imprint,
In yoga they call it a samskara,
That stays with us.
Gets activated now as adults.
And so our work as Ram Dass says,
Is to see the suffering as grace.
To see that those things coming up,
Oh,
This is me trying to spiritually grow.
The triggers are doorways into our shadows,
Into the things that we don't want to accept about ourselves,
Into the places that we haven't looked at.
And on this path of wholeness,
It's not just about welcoming the light,
It's about looking into our shadows.
So triggers can be a real doorway.
Into our shadows,
Especially when we're seeing someone else out there and say that they're the problem.
Or something that we despise in other people.
If we can say like,
There's something that's something that we're not accepting in ourselves.
What you want.
Is on the other side of where it feels hard to go.
I'll say that again,
What you want,
What you really want.
Is on the other side of where it feels hard to go.
And so when life presents you things that are hard.
The invitation is to be,
Hmm.
I just struck some gold here.
Yeah,
This is the good stuff.
This is the thing that's really gonna aid in my spiritual development.
Not just sitting on a cushion and shielding myself from the outside world.
So I encourage you,
I invite you to welcome in the heart.
At the pace that you can.
We don't want to overwhelm our system,
But welcome in the heart.
Go inwards and be curious.
What is this about?
What is at the root of this?
See how your triggers really are treasured.
For your growth,
For your well-being,
And for everything that you might think meditation is meant to help you with.
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope this is supportive.
If you like this concept,
I actually go deeper into your triggers or your treasures in a course called 21 Days of Morning Motivation and Inspiration.
There and I wish you well as you go through your day and get triggered in whatever way life has for you today.
Enjoy the gold.
Take care.
