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“In Buddhism, the path of consciousness includes right thought, right speed, right action, and right living. Yoga includes these things in its teaching about dharma.” —Deepak Chopra, from the book Abundance: The Inner Path to Wealth
Has an unexpected emergency or bill arisen in the middle of working toward a project or goal you have set? Has it rattled you? Has it given life to doubts that maybe this isn’t the path you should be on? First, let me try to encourage you to halt your worrisome thoughts, and before you do anything to change your trajectory, first, read this post.
Whether you are deep into many hours and financial investment as you step closer toward your intended goal as the finish-line may already be in sight, or if you are in the middle of the journey and still have a distance to go but are seeing significant progress, or maybe you are just considering beginning a journey you have dreamed about but may be hesitant to do so due to fear that it will be too difficult, obstacles will happen along every journey. Smooth sailing is a wonderful dream, and while absolutely moments of calm seas do happen and with more and more frequency throughout daily life if we are grounded in true contentment, but we step in our own way if we think that the right journey is obstacle-free.
The obstacles along our chosen journey arrive to advise us and reveal a few very important things that once we surpass them (and yes, you are absolutely capable of surpassing them), you will have learned something, strengthened something that needed to be ‘tightened’. Much like tightening the lug-nuts on a tire, or checking the air pressure, the obstacles are ensuring a successful arrival if tended to with calm clarity and trust because, let’s be honest, we understandably may become a bit excited when we get closer, and in that excitement, we may overlook necessities. Necessities that need to be tended to like a good night’s sleep, even if we cannot wait for the rise of the sun on the day we know is coming.
Earlier this year, in episode #403, we talked about how the Buddhist psychology lies at the foundation of living a life of contentment, and one of the premises, as the above quote makes mention, is alignment.
We know we are in alignment when we have discovered our dharma – what we can uniquely give that energizes us, is something we are passionate about and as we engage in it, we are also contributing positively to others, the world at large in some way. The overlap of our talent with a need, that is our dharma. But again, as Deepak Chopra points out in his book Abundance, your dharma “is not defined in advance” and most definitely the path that is best for you is not defined in advance. “If you want more out of life, construct a vision that dharma will support.” And this is where alignment comes into play. Aligning with your dharma.
There are four components involved with alignment in our lives to reside in true contentment, traveling and trusting the journey we have chosen. Let’s take a look at each one.
Right Thought
“Remember that you have the gift of choice, so choose a thought that pushes you forward rather than one that holds you back.” —Roxie Nafousi, Manifest
Once we start aligning our thoughts with the life we wish to live, thinking constructively rather than catastrophically or negatively, then we start to step closer to alignment. Paired with our thinking, we need to also consider the words we choose. Our language must also be in alignment, removing self-criticism and negativity with support, and just as we engage with the world with loving-kindness and integrity, we care for ourself in the same way as well.
“If we can master our thoughts, we can change our emotional state, and if we change our emotional state, we can change our vibration. If we change our vibration, we change our reality.” —Roxie Nafousi
Right Speed
“Let go of waiting . . . make a choice not to wait but instead to live in the moment.” —Roxie Nafousi
Often it is our misunderstanding of what ‘right speed’ is or being unclear about what role ‘right speed’ has in our journey that causes us to give up when we meet an obstacle. We may think, well, if I’m in alignment and I have found my dharma, then there should be no obstacles at all! So maybe I am on the wrong journey. Nope, that isn’t accurate, but entirely understandable for considering to be true if we are unaware of the gifts obstacles bring, and lack trust in our journey.
Trust comes from clarity, and clarity brings us peace because we trust that while there will be road bumps along the way, much like the constructive purpose of a neighborhood speed bump, they are happening to help us pay closer attention to something that is vitally important.
“Impatience is the enemy of manifesting . . . when we trust in [journey and direction], we can surrender the need for control, for fixed timelines, and for an urgency to rush our lives.” —Roxie Nafousi
Right Action
“A life where your work excites you, and your daily reality feels aligned with what you actually want. Comfort isn’t the cure for burnout—meaning is. When you create a life that fulfills you, you won’t have to search for ways to escape it.” —Jay Yang, author of You Can Just Do Things
At this point, you have put your intention out into the world. Now, you have to start engaging with the world, and doing the work that will give you the ability to seize opportunities when they arrive. In other words, this is the preparation part of the journey. Sarah Jessica Parker has been attributed with a simple, yet more than sufficient maxim for living well that guides her own life, “Preparation is freedom.”
While we are preparing, we don’t know what will cross our path down the road. But we won’t be able to seize it or enjoy it or even recognize it as an opportunity unless we prepare in advance.
Right Living
“Whenever we enter a period of transformation and we begin to align our behavior with what we want to attract into our lives, we must simultaneously expect a period of discomfort and then make a conscious commitment to accept it and sit through it.” —Roxi Nafousi
When we know we are living well in a manner that, similar to right action, gives us the best chance to thrive, then we can more easily let go because we already know that we are putting the odds in our favor. This is the powerful part of living a simply luxurious life that often gets overlooked because it is the everyday activities, choices and connections that if we are living consciously and courageously, reflect an alignment that provides peace of mind and thus contentment every single day of our life.
episode #396: Why Living a Simple Life Involves Courage and 6 Ways We Can Harness Our Bravery to Do So
“Every single thing you do, day to day, is an opportunity for you to strengthen your manifesting power: the thoughts you choose to attach to, the way you nourish and fuel your body, the daily practices you commit to, the habits you create, the friendships you have, the behavior you accept from others, and the willingness you show to step out of your comfort zone.” —Roxi Nafousi
When we align each of the above aspects —thought, speed, action and living — the stress of navigating obstacles is temporary (acute) versus when we are out of alignment. When we are out of alignment, the stress becomes chronic (versus acute). Being out of alignment materializes in our lives as resentment, frustration, lashing out at incongruent moments toward people or in situations unrelated to our stress, feelings of anger that we can’t articulate as to its true source, or a feeling of helplessness.
If you have ever experienced both misalignment and then later put in the work to figure out and then attain alignment, you know there is a difference in the heaviness of the stress felt when a difficult situation arises. The former feels suffocating and so burdensome that the confusion drowns us; the latter, while not comfortable, gives us focus and with the clarity we have about why we are heading along the journey we have chosen, we stay the course. We know that doing so will reap benefits making life on the other side of the obstacle sweeter and more fulfilling.
~If after reading today’s post, you discover that you are truly out of alignment, then these three posts are for you (here, here and here), various topics that focus on how to heal because when we heal, we gain clarity, and that is where alignment begins.
So today, check in with yourself to see that everything is in alignment. If you see something needs an adjustment or letting go and something else added, be brave, gather up your humility because once you see it, you can then acknowledge it and then get busy doing the work to help bring yourself to alignment. Only each of us can do this for ourselves. In such times, we may have to check our ego, but we will benefit abundantly by doing so.
Have a wonderful start to the new week and thank you for stopping by TSLL.
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~Learn more about TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass here.
