Shifting Reality

Muffin just resting in the Presence

The only way suffering is possible is if we are resisting
what is happening in the moment.  So simple.
The good news is that the end of suffering is within our grasp!  All it requires is for us to just "allow" what is.  That's easier said than done, only because we have so much practice at resisting everything!  Thousands of years of practice!

That's why I so much appreciate my squirrels.  They are the best teachers of just resting in the way it is. They never try to be something they're not. They are always reliably themselves and therefore content. What's their secret?

The thing about little squirrels is this...  their mind is free and without concern.  They do not experience themselves as separate from their world. They go with the flow. And they don't dwell in the past or worry about the future.  They are totally present in the now! 

So the next time you are stressed out,  
here's something you can play with:

1. Stop and take a deep breath. 
2. Ask yourself what point of view is causing your suffering.
3. Take that point of view and put it on the shelf for now.
4. Take another breath and stop thinking.
5. Look around you and find one thing you are thankful for.
Good Job!...
Now here's where you get to stretch your imagination:
6. Take the point of view that stressed you out and see if you can find one thing that's good about it.  

Now the mind is going to fight you on this... it wants to keep seeing what's wrong with the situation. The truth is that what's wrong with the situation is just one point of view. The mind would rather be right than happy. So just for fun, let yourself explore the opposite point of view. 
Be like a child and use your imagination.  
If you can think a thought and it can stress you out, 
you can certainly think the opposite thought and let yourself relax and feel good.  And if you were a little squirrel, you wouldn't bother to think at all. You'd be too busy playing.

 Remember, suffering is NOT in the fact, but rather, in the perception of the fact.  Just notice.  When you change your point of view...  your reality shifts!  

from Nisgaradatta's  I Am That:

"The mind is what it thinks.  To make it true, think true."

"The Absolute is the birthplace of perceiving. It makes perception possible.  But too much analysis leads you nowhere. There is in you the core of being which is beyond analysis, beyond the mind. You can know it in action only.  Express it in daily life and its light will grow ever brighter.
The legitimate function of the mind is to tell you what is not.  But if you want positive knowledge,
 you must go beyond the mind."

Q. In all the universe is there one single thing of value?
A. Yes, the power of love.

 A wise little squirrel recommended this book.