So many are saying Where is God when I need him? Especially today. Many feel deserted and alone. But it is only that we have been looking in the wrong direction, searching everywhere but at home. The surprising answer to the question tells us instead, that all we need is right here with us in our everyday life. In fact it is right at the kitchen table. It is only that we have been looking elsewhere, searching all around. These episodes offer specific ways in which we can encounter God, fulfillment, enlightenment right here in our daily lives, wherever we go.
We all want the year to be new, fresh and exciting. Many make New Year resolutions hoping that thngs will work out as they wish. Yet the true secret to making the year new is explored in this podcast. You are the one who must become new, who must approach all the changes and challenges differently. Then it's easy to see new possibilities everywhere.
Happy, happy new year on the way, a few days, and we are looking at a brand new year, God willing, a new, I'm saying. Let's hope it is new. Let's hope we can be new ourselves and see the fact that every moment is new, that possibilities are endless. You know, we live with the idea that everything is the way it is, and they they can't change and it won't change, and that there are no possibilities for change, that we have to live with the way things are, the way they look, the way we imagine them to be, actually, because we don't really see them. We don't see the perpetual, continual change that we're living in. Like we're living on a train that's moving, moving, winding, changing the weather, the clouds, the day, the health, the events. It's like a huge dance that we're situated in the middle of, and we're in the middle of this wanting things to be stable. Well, that's an interesting, it looks like an interesting contradiction. It's not a contradiction because there is also, along with this continual change, there's enormous stability available. Well, we can count on the fact that things are going to evolve, transform, and change. And we can also count on the fact that when we see that, and more than see it, when we accept it, a certain peace comes, a certain stability comes from the peace and from the willingness to allow life to do what it does. So much of our struggle and our feeling that, oh, everything is always the same, nothing is going to change, comes because we're not willing to allow life to do what it does. We can call it spirit, we can call it moo, we can call it God. There are many, many beautiful words that we can use, we can call it dharma, but it's the same actual phenomena that we're talking about. The one that's really in charge of what happens. It makes the rain turn into snow, makes the wind blow hard, then it becomes softer. That makes two people fall in love. We think it's us. It's not true. We're not, it's not, we are not the actual doers of this vast, enormous world, but we are the receivers of it, the witnesses of it. The partners. We become a partner to life when we are willing to allow life to be in charge and we partner with it. We we join with it, we learn enormously from it. We can also celebrate and enjoy enormously. But the question of who is in control is the big question here. And most of everyone's life is about wanting to control every single thing that happens to them, to the world, to each other, to judge it, control it, change it, as if we know better. And at times it certainly looks as if we know better. Oh my goodness, this shouldn't be happening. This is wrong. But it is happening, and there's something to learn from how to relate with it and what it has come for, what we have to learn from it. I'm not saying that we don't take action, not at all. Of course, appropriate, harmonious, constructive action comes by itself when we're in the right frame of mind. The frame of mind of really giving ourselves time to be with what truly is going on. Not what we want to control it to be or what we imagine it to be or what we fear or hope or any of that, but just what's really going on. There are so many defenses we have against that. All of us, including me, of course, too, naturally. It takes a long time to see that and to say, ooh. And to do a very, very, very brave thing, and this is a brave thing to do in the new year. Really, it'll help you and others so much. Be present, 100% present for everything, and let go of wanting to control it. Number one, it will take so much tension and anxiety away from you, because you can't really control it anyway, and it will allow you then to be more cognizant, more aware of what's really happening. If you're not looking at it with ways, how am I going to change it? How am I going to control it? No, but just being with it clearly, lovingly even. Lovingly. That's a strange thing because we when we stop wanting to control every little thing, and we're just present to it, feelings of love bubble up. They just bubble up. Feelings of admiration, of oh my goodness, how beautiful this moment is, how amazing that is. We begin to see differently. Maybe we peek into this huge harmony that is going on all the time, inevitably, and that we are a part of as well. The endless harmony, which doesn't look that way, but we only see a very small portion of the big picture. Remember that. And we're left confused, scattered, maybe very disconnected from from what to do. So a great, great beloved secret is to sit down or stand up, but stop, quiet, allow life to be life, allow the breath to breathe you. Which it does anyway. Be pr feel it, sense it, enjoy it, see it. The more we allow, the more we actually become aware of what's really happening. Not what we think is happening, but what is actually going on. Many surprises come then, and excuse me, and inevitably, inevitably, many new doors open, new possibilities. Oh, I didn't see that. Oh, I didn't realize that. Oh, I didn't realize that person is behaving that way because they're so sad. All of a sudden you see it. Maybe instead of so much anger or your irritation toward that person, maybe a moment of kindness would be just just hit the spot. You may not think it, it just may evolve like that for you. You may think it. It happens differently for each person. Excuse me. We make many, many, many, many, many, we make many resolutions for the new year. I'm going to be like this, I'm going to act like that. This is how it's going to turn out. Those can be very hard to live with because it's like we're trying to impose our will. Now, it's nothing wrong with having an overall perspective or a desire or a vision. In fact, it's very, very important to do that. But not to make it rigid. To remember you're not in charge. The larger picture is the larger picture. Spirit is working, Dharma is working, clarity is coming. When we can really absorb that and live it. Taste it, try it out. A wonderful benefit right away is that so much anxiety goes away. Like, oh, it's off my shoulders. I'll do my best. I'll be here. What do you have to do to do your best? Be a first of all, be here. Be really here for what's really going on. And allow life to move through you. The right response, a new perception. That's when we say the new year is new. It means that you are new. You are willing to be new. You're willing to let a lot of your old habitual patterns go for now. Let them go, period. Let them go so you can try a new way of being in the world, then definitely things will be new. We are the ones who keep it many doors closed. We think that they're just shut, but it's not true. We keep them shut when we keep ourselves shut and rigid. Then things stay closed and tight. But when we're willing to just let go for what for now, or for as long as we can or we want to, of our normal patterns, patterns, patterns, habits, thoughts, expectations, just let them subside and just enter the moment as it is. Not as you want it to be, but as it is. Actually, when you do that and you're willing to experience it as it is, it's usually much, much, much more delicious than what we even thought it was or what it could be. The mountain becomes revealed to us each moment. A mountain, a treasure. Usually we don't think of it that way, but it's true. It's just true. And the only way to discover that is by actually being it, practicing it, doing it. And the beauty of this, I want to add one more thing. The beauty of it them is that there's really nothing to do, so to speak, the way we usually think of the word doing. It's really more about being. Not having to prove anything. Not being someone that special, living up to some image that you have created of yourself or that others create of you. Being doesn't mean just being. Be here. Breathe. Observe, watch, whatever happens. It's not something that you're doing to get a reaction from someone. It's just experiencing who you are, right, at this moment and what's going on and what the world is and what your friends are. It's really being available. Just being available to many surprises. And you may say, well, if I let go of all my images of myself, then who am I? You don't have to be anything that in your imagination, just be. See what that feels like. This is such a gift. Believe me, it sounds for many people it may just sound silly, but it's not silly. It's a gift. It's taking the handcuffs off your life. It's putting down all the weapons that we use to survive. Emotional weapons, physical weapons, mental weapons. We don't need them. When we just are able to be, oddly enough, we become surrounded with gratitude, appreciation, caring. And frankly, there is no greater, greater way to proceed in your life than wrapped in that feeling of deep caring for yourself and for others. So this new year I say to you, let the new year be new. Let your life be beautiful. And take all that pressure off. I thank you very much for listening. I will be back with more. And I do wish each one of you a beautiful, beautiful new year. Thank you.
