Feeling Lightness of Heart

I would love to start a complete blog entitled something like,  “Beautiful Things to Make You Feel Good.”

Imagine that:  a whole compilation of beautiful things, ideas, etc., to bring joy into people’s hearts, etc.

Today was a bit of a hard day.  But, there was one thing that made me feel extraordinarily wonderful.

I was listening to something upon first waking up, a kind of audio on the “Insight Timer” app,  and it exhorted me to “… Feel freedom.  Feel a lightness in your heart, a lightness in your body, and know that you are free…”

This incredible idea:  — “A lightness in my heart?”  I thought,  “What on earth does that feel like?”   I could imagine feeling light in my body, but not feeling “lightness” in my heart.    (Maybe warmth of heart… heaviness of heart… but for some reason I could not remember ever feeling “light” of heart)

In any case, I tried then to viscerally feel what it would feel like to feel a lightness in my heart…

And, lo and behold,  what an incredible feeling!  And what an accompanying Memory!  I HAD felt this way before!   

Indeed, it brought me back to when I was in Dharamsala in 2013,  a beautiful town (home of the Dalai Lama, etc.,) in the foothills of the Himalayas (India).

That Lightness of Heart!  That was something I used to feel almost continuously and every day while I was living in India at certain times,  relatively free (studying, not working in a kind of daily grind as a teacher day in, day out).     It brought back that lightness and I felt —  I hoped, I felt, I was sure, that I could get back to there and feel that lightness again.

I hope to be recommitted.  (shall I be committed for writing this post?)    I hope to be recommitted to go back to India and to feel that lightness again.   To get out of the daily grind, and get back to a life of study and writing (more or less) at my own pace.

To be Free (again) is a goal I have.   What a blessing to be reminded, that it is possible to Feel Light of Body and Light at Heart.    Thank you.  

What is Time but the Allotment of Minutes to Fulfill our Deepest Purpose?

I want to briefly revisit the thoughts of Deepak Chopra on pursuing your purpose and passion in life, following the immediate comments of some of my readers and friends.  Feel free to skip down halfway if you’ve already read the first quote.

“For me it is not so much about seeking ‘success.’  Rather, it is about, “How do I fit into this web of life?” What is my unique talent?   How do I express my unique talent?

In Eastern traditions we call it the law of dharma, which says there are no spare parts in the universe. Every piece fits, its like a big jigsaw puzzle which we are a part of.  And if you were to ask me, “How do I know what my part is?”, I would say:

If I had all the time in the world, and all the money in the world, what would I do?  

How would I express myself, and how would I use that expression of myself, to serve the needs of the web of life of which I am a part?

Furthermore, Deepak goes on to suggest that this will have the following effect:

When I do that, I will end up having all the money and time in the world.

Start from, what would I do if I had all the money and time in the world,  Do that, and you Will have all the time and money in the world.

 

This is very much like the law of attraction or manifesting our realities. We can see it from the perspective of a mindset shift — thinking that I have all the time and money in the world, and then doing only what I care about — and this manifesting what I had envisioned:  Having all the time and money in the world.

OR we can suppose that perhaps, when we imagine that we have all the time and money in the world, and thus stop STRIVING through our action to get success  or recognition — then that action will come from a place of purity and purpose, unsullied by the need for validation, and its own power will make itself known in the world.

Then the power of that kind of action will draw people to it like shavings to a magnet, the world will not be able to resist loving and appreciating your action, and will ultimately reward you financially for doing it.

But…

These are beautiful ideas, but there is a chance they might not work out. We do not have evidence beforehand that they can.  Indeed, it may seem like wishful thinking to think that all the “time and money in the world” may simply come to us from doing what we simply Love.

 

That said, perhaps we can entertain the notion that, once we are really on our purpose and doing what we Love and have a Passion for in this way,  that all the time and money in the world will no longer matter to us. 

For what was time but the allotment of minutes hours or decades to do that thing that we thought we had been put on this earth to do?

And what was Money but the tool and potential to allow us to live comfortably on this earth, and fulfill our true purpose here?

 

Purpose: If I had all the time and money in the world, What Would I Do?

Whether or not you are a fan of Deepak Chopra, I find this to be a wonderful and inspiring take on the meaning of success and pursuing your dreams in life:

“For me it is not so much about seeking ‘success.’  Rather, it is about, “How do I fit into this web of life?” What is my unique talent?   How do I express my unique talent?

In Eastern traditions we call it the law of dharma, which says there are no spare parts in the universe. Every piece fits, its like a big jigsaw puzzle which we are a part of.  And if you were to ask me, “How do I know what my part is?”, I would say:

If I had all the time in the world, and all the money in the world, what would I do?  

How would I express myself, and how would I use that expression of myself, to serve the needs of the web of life of which I am a part?

Chopra goes on to say that this has the following effect:

When I do that, I will end up having all the money and time in the world.

First, I find this to be a beautiful message and it deeply inspires me. It inspires me to start doing what is most valuable to me, not merely what I think I should do to make money, or the limited things that I can choose due to time constraints.

Frankly, when I do reflect on time, I have more of it than I appreciate. Even if I work 40 to 60 hours per week, I still have time outside of work to make good on fulfilling my dreams.

This reminds me of a message of David Deida, who suggests that you Stop Putting off your purpose to a later time.  Many of us have some great dream or goal in life, but we always think that maybe we will do it later down the road — maybe when we have enough money, or when our kids are grown up, or when we have completed x, y, or z.

Deida’s message is that the majority of human beings keep putting it off, and it usually never comes.

He suggests that right now, today, you devote 30 minutes of your time to fulfilling your deepest purpose on earth.

To give your gift fully for just 30 minutes.

No matter how busy our lives, we can all probably find 30 minutes to put aside each day to put towards pursuing our dreams or what we feel our real purpose or passion to be.  And if we can’t find 30 minutes towards it, maybe we should consider how we can make that possible.

I am curious to know what readers think.  Are you currently living your deepest purpose and passion in your life?   Or do you think that you can put 30 minutes towards it each day, and could you imagine this beginning to transform your life?

To be honest, I have not made this step yet.  But the more I think on these beautiful injunctions, the more it creates a determination in me to do what is important at least a  little bit each day.  Writing in this blog is one thing that makes me feel like I am doing some service in this way.  So thank you readers for letting me share this with you.