In Love with the World

Confidence cannot mature without the acceptance of uncertainty

We are not the size and shape of our worries.

I was no longer the exact size and shape of my discomfort. The unease was still there. It didn’t disappear, but I was no longer trapped inside it.

This essential nature of our lives is unborn—like space itself.

Everything you ever wanted is right here in this present moment of awareness.

But it’s a trap to get attached to any particular experience, especially those that relate to spiritual awakening.

All that we are looking for in life—all the happiness, contentment, and peace of mind—is right here in the present moment. Our very own awareness is itself fundamentally pure and good. The only problem is that we get so caught up in the ups and downs of life that we don’t take the time to pause and notice what we already have.

I learned that unconditional love—for ourselves and all beings—arises once we allow for the natural flow of change, and then we can welcome the continual arising of new ideas, new thoughts, new invitations. If we do not block whatever comes our way, there is no boundary to our love and compassion.

Feeling divided from ourselves and the world around us is the deceptive narrative of the grasping mind. But we can learn to let go of false hopes that leave us yearning for ease in our bodies and in this world. We can move beyond our discontent. We can replace longing with love. As I was just beginning to discover, when you love the world, the world loves you back.

The entire universe opened up and became totally unified with consciousness. No conceptual mind. I was no longer within the universe. The universe was within me. No me separate from the universe.