Is this you? Trying to apply what you've learned? Trying to put the Daily Reminders into practice?
It came up in a conversation just the other day. Someone whose life has been deeply impacted by the Innate Health understanding had hit a bit of a sticky patch and those words literally left their mouth:
“I'm trying to apply what I've learned.”
(The implication being that they were trying, but failing, therefore what were they doing wrong?)
There seemed to be a big decision in the offing, and the mind was getting in on the action. So I heard all about the sticky patch—the details, the perceived consequences, the seeming inability to ‘get out of it’—and then their assessment of the situation.
It was all thinking, wasn't it? What are we like, us humans?! All sped up! They knew this—they knew it was all nonsense—so they'd been trying to apply what they'd learned:
- Trying to pay less attention to the mind
- Trying to shut it up
- Trying to take it less seriously
- Trying to be more present
- Trying to find peace of mind
They were doing what make sense to them, in each moment that came along.
It was all very innocent: the mind trying to help out because it can’t know presence.
Oh the irony! The one thing it truly craves is only ever experienced when it’s not there so it can’t know it, or reproduce it.
🙃
Therefore it was scrabbling around, looking everywhere for peace of mind—practices, different perspectives, the perfect ‘work-life balance’, other people's opinions, one identity over another—but all it was doing was playing out one “I'll be happy when…” script after another.
When the answer was NOW.
(Now's the only thing we can ever actually experience, so the answer's pretty obvious really.)
I gently pointed this out.
They came to a standstill, dropped back into presence and found what they'd been looking for was there all along.
You, too.
So if you ever find yourself trying to ‘put the Daily Reminders into practice’, or trying to ‘apply what you've learned’, just remember.
What the mind is looking for, is already within you.
It's Now.
The mind just doesn't know that, and it never can.
So you can relax.
You're already doing it.
😘
Giles
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Giles P Croft
It's not school. But the mind thinks it is.