And let's close our eyes.
Let's close our eyes.
Let's close our eyes.
The last retreat that I attended,
I remember my teacher saying,
We are attracted to things,
More than pushed or pulled.
Our life is a series of attractions.
There is no way we can know what we want all the time.
And to be honest,
It will be very boring to know what we want all the time.
Let me rephrase it.
It will be boring to know exactly what we want all the time.
There is only one thing that our hearts really want,
Only one thing.
Happiness or peace or joy,
Whatever you want to call it.
So the heart is always attracted to these flavors of happiness.
Don't get me wrong.
It's not a one sided attraction.
The happiness is also looking for our hearts,
Looking for us.
We just don't know it.
Because somehow our culture,
Our society has made happiness something to be pursued as if it's a secret.
You got to struggle for it.
Surprise at the end of the struggle.
And somehow we have bought into this idea.
How we keep getting attracted to things that will give us happiness in the future.
But we don't see it,
That the attraction is the happiness.
The heart tastes it,
But the mind projects it in the future and sort of pushes it away.
You won't struggle unless you have tasted it.
And if it is there at the beginning for us to taste it,
Even if it feels like an idea,
It is a taste of happiness.
Could it be that the happiness is present all along?
And during the struggle?
Let's take an example.
Let's say for dinner,
You see your favorite dish served beautifully as if it's a gourmet experience.
You sit down.
You take the first bite.
It reminds you of childhood.
It takes you there.
You experience it.
You taste it.
You taste the happiness.
But the mind wants more.
The food was just the messenger to take you there.
But the mind mistakes the messenger to be the message.
And we try to eat as much as we can.
Same thing happens in our life.
We move somewhere.
We take up a job.
We take up a craft.
A hobby.
Out of love,
Out of this taste of happiness.
But then we forget this taste and keep milestones for ourselves.
So that if we reach them,
We allow ourselves,
We allow ourselves to experience a little bit of happiness on our journey to this mansion of happiness that is at the end of this struggle.
When I say struggle,
I mean struggle.
I mean struggle in the mind.
The restlessness.
The anticipation.
The disappointment.
The build up.
An analogy for this would be,
Think of the time in high school and college.
You fell in love.
Feel that love.
Imagine that time.
Think of the long hours on the cell phone or landline.
You chatted for hours during the evening.
Hardly got any sleep.
Next day,
You were back in school or college.
Enthusiastic to see them.
No sign of tiredness.
Somehow we were as if dipped in happiness.
That our minds were fresh,
Our bodies extremely enthusiastic,
Available.
Devoid of mental struggle.
Our bodies have no,
Have very little demands.
A few hours of sleep is enough.
Again,
I'm not a doctor.
I know my experience.
I remember that falling in love.
That somehow that gets dismissed as honeymoon period.
And we forget.
We forget.
That experience of being completely dipped in love,
In happiness,
Where the mind was fresh.
The body was extremely nimble,
Energetic.
We can have the same experience today.
We can have the same experience now.
Where our minds can be dipped in happiness.
Because the other person still remained the same after the first few days or weeks.
But our happiness started diminishing or obscuring rather.
Maybe our happiness was generated inside,
Triggered by the other person,
But generated inside within.
Our minds are struggling.
Give them permission to relax.
Give them permission to not fight.
Give them the professionals for the power of love and support.
Thank you.
The The The The The The The Normally we fight because at the end of the fight there is a prize.
You already have the prize.
The The The The The The The The The The The The The into your heart You are in a safe place Let your guards down Whoever you are fighting is not here This is your safe place This is your home A place where you can close your eyes and go to sleep without any worry No need for any guards This is not a hotel room which you are uncomfortable in so you don't sleep properly at night This is like your home Not like your home.
This is your home where you are completely safe and protected Nobody is here to come and get you or to hurt you You don't have to prove anything to anyone Nobody is here Put your hand on your heart The hand that protects,
Reassures The same way our mothers protected us reassured us The same way we reassured our kids hugged them,
Made them feel safe Feel that safety for yourself Something in you might be crying or scared Maybe even angry Just let it be Know that you are safe Feel that you are safe You can let your hands relax You can let your hands relax You can let your hands relax Relax your jaw Relax your hand Relax the eyes underneath the eyelid The wall and the earth carry your weight Don't hold back,
Just let them carry your weight Relax your jaw Relax your jaw Feel how you are supported by the earth Feel how the space around you is supporting you,
Nourishing you,
Helping you grow Just like that The happiness and peace is right at the beginning the middle and at the end of everything we do supporting us attracting us Once in a while we might see this in some kind of synchronicities or serendipities which our minds cannot explain You run into something or someone without any effort in a very serendipitous manner and you realize there's some deep connection I needed this in my life and I didn't know it or sometimes you'll just find all green lights when you're driving and you're running late These are just the ways our minds can notice this but our hearts always know that it is being supported supported like a mother firm but gentle nourishing You don't need to do anything to receive this Whether you struggle or not doesn't matter The mind might object because it wants something it always wants something The more we let our hearts amplify the more we become oblivious to these wants to these conditions I have to do this today I need to get this done I should be this person,
I should be like that person But notice now what is the state of your mind We didn't do anything,
No control,
No shaming,
No judging We only explored our own experience,
Our previous experience As if we are being dipped in love,
In peace It's like a coloured piece of cloth being dipped in bleach and it comes out all white unstained,
Untarnished just sitting quietly no goal no expectation,
No reward,
No cost nothing to earn Thank you
