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Excerpts From My Journal

25 July 2018

By Reflections of a studentPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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"Not many people know internal freedom. Not many people have tasted internal freedom. They might have had moments of release, pleasure, but not freedom. It is a taste which cannot be forgotten nor replaced. Once a moment of freedom has been experienced, it calls to you. In your sleep, during your waking hour, at your desk, at your dinner table. Moments when this illusory veil lifts everything makes sense, everything is aligned, everything is peace. You can kid yourself but proof lies in true feeling. How do you feel?

There is nothing new here, books have been written and words have been spoken. It is merely an expression, a reminder for me and for you. Who are you? Are you your body? Are you your ethnicity? Are you your job title? Who are you? Do you know your deepest fears that lie in your subconscious? Have you entered your dark cavern? Have you met yourself face to face? Who would you be without a single memory of the past or projection of the future right here right now? Is that person the same as the you standing here?

I look at people and I see a cycle being relived over and over again across the decades. People’s fashion might change, their taste in music or political views, but a true revolution of the spirit is seldom. Our birthright is freedom, and we crave this but are distracted and alluded like toddlers. I am not preaching, neither am I expressing anything new but when I wake up, you wake up. We all wake up to reality.

If you read this, read it with an active spirit, an active curiosity not of me but of yourself. Do not distract yourself with philosophical discussions, they have been done time and time again, but delight in YOU. The inscription on the Greek temple at Delphi reads "Know thyself and you will know the universe and the Gods." Take a moment in your day to bring you back to you. I’m no better or worse, we are all equal, each and every one of us, always."

I don't journal often but when I do it's a stream of uninterrupted flow. At times I like to revisit old entries as it seems to tap into an inner knowing which isn't always accessible due to an incessant identification with the material world. It reminds me to harness and trust in my intuition. Life should be lived in alignment with one's own definition of happiness and success and nobody else's. Although it's not always easy to do so, as we have a tendency to inherit other people's warped ideologies and accept them as our own.

One of the ways to cultivate intuition is to invite moments of stillness. I am reminded of a passage from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life that reads, "You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn’t nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating."

Opportunities for stillness can be found in the small everyday activities, such as when making a cup of coffee, brushing your teeth or waiting in line. In these moments instead of indulging in a memory of the past or a story of a future, you can be there in still alert presence. Inviting as many spaces as possible into your daily life to be present slowly breaks the stream of thought and reconnects you back to yourself.

happiness
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About the Creator

Reflections of a student

My intention on this platform is to share my reflections on a number of books, teachings and experiences that have shaped my life and influenced my way of thinking

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