How to be free from suffering and live the meaning of life

Wanna be free? Never have a problem ever again? Free of all suffering and stress and anxiety? Love every single moment of your life?

Grab a cup, but gird yourself because it’s a bold idea and you might dislike some of it.

Here’s how:

There are zero problems here, now, in this moment. Honestly. All your suffering vanishes – all of it – when you fully immerse yourself in the presence of Now.

This is a huge idea – and as I said, your mind may hate it – but it doesn’t make it un-true.

Let’s investigate: Assume this moment is the only moment there is. Get super present, be aware of now. Be innocent and fresh. Drop all expectations, insistences, resistances and just meet this moment face to face, as it is. Truly tune in, give your whole being to this moment in time.

What else does your experience of now need?

Nothing. It is full, rich, complete. Now requires nothing, there is nothing wrong … when you are fully here.

Your mind may still rebel.

It may try to negate your experience of now, saying “yes, but …”, as in “yes, but … yesterday I was so full of fear/anger/sadness,” or “yes, but … my daughter is very sick in hospital right now and I’m so anxious about her,” or “yes, but … tomorrow I have to have a really tough conversation with my boss and I’m worried about it.”

One of the mind’s greatest tricks is convincing you that the causes of fear and worry and suffering are present, they are very real now. However, your mind is anywhere but here. It is constantly trying to drag you off into some other place and time, and suffering only becomes real when you follow it.

Suffering – overload, overwhelm, reacting blindly – doesn’t happen when you’re fully present. Your mind will tell you that you’re irresponsible and uncaring if you let go of the events and the challenges of all other places and times to experience the one place your life is, the one place you can do anything about – here and now.

Don’t let your mind convince you.

How useful is it when you are worried or stressed about something you can do nothing about? How caring is it when you’re so consumed in a past or upcoming event you can’t be present with the people in front of you? How useful is suffering to you, or indeed anyone else?

It’s not.

A skilful, joyful, compassionate, meaningful and suffering-free life is being able to let go of all other places and moments so you can give yourself fully to what is happening right in front of you. Here is where life is!

Again, don’t get me wrong – in being present I’m not saying ignore your challenges and what you have to do, not at all.

I’m saying truly see what problems are actually here, now, right in front of you. See how  your mind wants to removes you from this moment to re-hash a situation that isn’t here. See all this mind stuff and ignore it, instead take a half-step back and be present; be fully alive.

Questions? Let me know!

Arjuna

PS. For the tools and techniques that make being present a doddle?

Here's 108 FREE ways to remember:

https://mailchi.mp/60dbe4ffeccf/freedom-from-thinking-so-much

Drained and stressed OR Alive and blessed?

Want to be a smiley yellow ball? Of course you do! Read on ... To live a life where you’re excited rather than stressed and drained, content and grateful rather than dissatisfied, fully present and focused rather than spending all your time regretting the past and worried for the future, being a wonderful role model, anchor and inspiration for your loved ones, as opposed to letting that snappy, grumpy beast out …

When you stop and put your mind to it, when you nurture that, this life can come quite simply. It does.

The Good is always here, and many times it just takes a reminder to open your eyes to see it. When you see it, you live it - every part of your life responds.

How do YOU remind yourself to live the Good, nay Great, life?

What do YOU do to stop and connect with and nurture that really best version of you?

I know it’s easier, sometimes, to just go through the motions of life. I know it can sometimes be easier to grump and whine and all the rest of it. I know it can sometimes be easier to get into a habit of rushing around trying to get all your jobs done and responsibilities out of the way and “then I’ll get to take time to connect and nurture the inner …”

But I know this for sure:

Look after the inner first and the outer follows sweetly and smoothly.The inner connection makes everything Great, and Greater. It means you can sail through the tough times.

If you like quotes, because I certainly do, Meister Eckhart, that groovy German monk from way back, once said the very same thing: ________

“What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.” ________

So see it as a practice. See it like brushing the teeth of your soul, nutrition for your Being. Something you do everything single day.

Put yourself in the way of inspiration and reminders and the Good, and reap the benefits.

(That’s your homework for today by the way.)

Go well! Arjuna

PS. It’s the very reason I close my eyes and meditate every day. It’s the very reason I hang out with fun, inspired, inner anchored people as much as possible. It’s the very reason I teach and share all this stuff:

Inspiration and reminding and deepening of the Good in every moment and in every part of my life.

Here's a free guide on exactly how to do that:

www.arjunaishaya.com/freestuff

Bullies

I’ve just gotten back from teaching on the Isle of Man. It was so great. An amazing land, it feels old. Incredible people there too - if I didn’t have a family to return to, I’d have stayed longer. Here’s a quote I found on the way home: __________

The worst bullies you will ever encounter in your life are your own thoughts. - Bryant H Mc Gill __________

Isn’t that true?

Coming to terms with the harshness of your own head is crucial not only in feeling relaxed, content, confident, but in doing anything. The greatest critic is in your own head and if you can overcome that, you’re set for life.

It’s hard enough to do anything, you don’t need a handbrake like your own mind.

The great thing is, you need do so little to overcome it.

Just see it ... “I see you!!” is the greatest thing for choice.  You do not need to change it, or make it go away. See it, and bring your attention to something else.

If it squeaks and tells you what a loser you are? How you’re never going to get there? All that rubbish it can come up with?

Just ignore. It hates being ignored! It hates it, because all of a sudden you’re not even caring. It loses all it’s power. It loses all it’s relevance to you in one simple stroke. OK?

You don't need to fight it. Just as the ocean need not fight the fish that swim through it, you don't need to fight the thoughts - whatever they may be - that swim through your head.

So make it that simple. See it. And meditation, regular practice is an incredibly useful tool for getting good at ignoring those bullies in your own brain. So why not sit down and give yourself even just 10 minutes?

Good job!

Go well Arjuna

PS. Here's some super simple, easy, relaxing, empowering tools for you. Free.

www.arjunaishaya.com/freestuff

Want to wake up the easy way or the hard way?

Lance Armstrong, that incredibly driven cyclist character, once said something about perspective and attitude. Now he’s is probably second best known for his recovery from cancer, but about that he said: _______ “I take nothing for granted. There are only good days and great days after chemotherapy.” _______

When you live through something has nasty as cancer and chemotherapy everything becomes a bonus.

And yet here we are with a pretty good life, and it can be so easy to fall into complaining, into taking things for granted, into focusing on what is wrong with our lives.

Isn’t it?

When you face challenges of any kind, they can serve you (as in being of service to your highest good) to highlight what is good and great about your life. Things formerly unnoticed start to come into focus. All of a sudden it can become clear how wonderful your life actually is, now, as it is.

And yet you can get through the average day without even appreciating how good it is just to be alive, to taste the coffee and breathe the air and walk across the Earth.

If I exist for one thing, it’s to remind people (and as I remind you, I remind myself) of how great things already are. The importance of, instead of waiting for a better moment, loving this one ...

Not so you don’t do anything, but so you can be of the greatest use to the world, free from stress or struggle or negativity.

Because you don’t want a wake up call like cancer. You don’t need it to wake up. Choose to wake up the easy way.

It just takes a little reminding now and then, it takes prioritising what is truly important to you, and practicing now, when the going is good.

The more you practice, the more you remember. The more you remember, the more you become what you practice. Doing this means overwhelm and negativity and feeling lost becomes a memory. A memory. You free yourself from all of that.

Alrighty?

Thank you for you, and go well! Arjuna

PS. Join me for some tools that centre you right in the heart of not taking anything for granted? That make all your days only good or great? Here's your free guide to get you started:

www.arjunaishaya.com/freestuff

Are you the only one?

Do you ever wake in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, your thoughts going a million miles an hour? You’re unable to shut them up and get back to sleep so you give up, get up and raid the fridge? (yom yom yom -but then that weight goes on which gives you something else to chastise yourself about?) Are worry and doubt and anxiety just a normal part of your day? Do you worry, going over something you’ve said because the way someone MIGHT have taken it? Do you ever just panic, anxiety causing a knot in your stomach and your whole system a buzzing just from some irrational — or perhaps completely rational but debilitating — fear?

Have you ever struggled to do something, anything, because your own head — what a traitor! — has turned against you and is busy shouting what a loser you are? Or you’ve made the smallest of mistakes and your head (traitor!!) keeps going on about it, not letting you move on?

You too? Oh my goodness! I thought I was the only one.

All of the above and more used to be a regular occurrence for me. I knew how good life could be, but I knew how shocking my fear and worry and self-doubt could be too. It was plenty of motivation to do something about my own head's negativity and overwhelm.

If I can get beyond these habits — and they are habits, learned ways of responding to the world — you can also learn to leave them behind. Honestly, you can.

I know what it’s like to look around and think that you are the only one struggling. That everyone else seems to have it all sorted, all easy, perfected. I thought I was the only one sharing a life with a traitor in my own skull.

If I can move beyond it, so can you. Promise.

What it takes it becoming more aware of what the voice in your head is telling you. In this awareness you can come to make a different choice. You can distract yourself from all of the trouble, and focus on what you want to focus on: like the good things of life, the things you DO have, or your actual options right now rather than irrational and/or constant “what if?” fears.

It takes practicing relaxing and training your attention on a regular basis. That is all. If you’ve had enough of negativity and overwhelm, you’ll have plenty of motivation for practicing this awareness and attention shifting on a daily basis. And that will bring you to a different state of being, a different way of living very quickly.

It will. If I can do it, so can you.

But it helps, it does, to know you’re not the only one. And that there’s a way out. And that you are enough, you are wonderful, you are doing a fine job all things considering — no matter what your own head says.

That’s me. Thank you for taking the time to read this. It all begins with a shift within you, a shift you can carry out. Not only does all of your life benefit, but so does everyone around you too. By changing yourself, you help change the world.

True that.

Go well! Arjuna

PS.

People often say, "awareness is all well and good, but what can I DO????" They want something concrete -- things to do, to practice. Here’s what I have for you: www.arjunaishaya.com/freestuff

PPS.

Questions? Let me know - I'd love to help!

What are you addicted to?

A question from a reader on this fine morning - “Are addictions a means of escaping something deeper?”

And my answer was -

“Could be, most certainly they could be.” (how’s that for definite?- Ha!)

You see, they don’t even need to be very “bad” addictions, like heroin or cheesecake or something. They can be anything to distract or numb or sedate even.

We are very good at attempting to run away from big decisions - somehow sitting on the fence seems so much easier than actually jumping and committing to a course, any course, of action doesn’t it?

We are also very good at avoiding looking at an part of our lives that may not be wholly satisfying too. Where we are obviously compromising and suffering because of it.

Distraction and sedation seems like a great option. “If I dig deep into something else, perhaps the decision or the problem will go away …”

And anything will do - reading, TV, shopping, eating, exercise, travel … knitting … cheesecake ... You can try anything in the attempt to cover up.

What I was personally trying to cover up was this annoying voice at the back of my head that would spout “Is THIS is? Is this ALL your life is about? What is the POINT?” all the time.

It was massively confusing, even depressing, because I had all my external, “facts of life” (not those facts) covered - great house, job, friends, hobbies, everything I wanted, I had.

None of it would quieten that inner voice of dissatisfaction. Weird huh?

I tried so hard to cover it up with more and more of the externals - and nothing worked. The more I tried, the more dissatisfied I got. The fact was that I had no internal wellbeing. No stability at all. No connection with my spiritual anchor. I couldn’t choose to be happy no matter what.

Funny old thing - it took so little to fill that inner hole but it made a huge difference to everything I did. All the “externals” came alive. A little bit of time nurturing my inner self and my outer world got so much more satisfying.

I no longer needed to do anything, I wanted to. A huge difference.

AND all the stress, struggles, overwhelm, the self-doubt and the self-criticism … all of that started to fade away too.

It’s one of the most important things you can do - sort out your inner life … your inner spiritual anchor, get the ability to be happy and at peace no matter what. Because then every decision, every compromise, every cause of stress, every thing gets simpler, more straightforward.

You hide no longer - which is an amazing thing. Your life gets better and better and better.

How about that then?

Go well! Arjuna

PS. Getting the ability to be able to sort out your inner life and choose your own happiness - to have it uncaused - is simply a matter of practicing the right things. Few people actually know these things. If you want to know?

I have a free guide here, detailing exactly what you need to do:

www.arjunaishaya.com/freestuff

Facebook is evil! (perhaps)

People are currently talking about Facebook and how addictive it is. They're talking about how impressionable (young and old) minds are being swayed this way and that. They're talking about how perhaps Facebook should be forced to do this and that, and perhaps generally not be so interesting. Maybe. I'm trivialising and being dramatic. All at the same time! Ha!

(And look! That guy is lifting not one, but TWO Facebooks!)

Here’s my take on the monolith that is Facebook - and in fact, all the "evils" of life. There perhaps is a place, on a case by case basis, for management of access to certain things that may be addictive. Especially in the young. Alcohol, drugs, sugar, guacamole … you know, all the fun things.

Or maybe we should just equip each and every person with a mentor. Someone wise and experienced who will explain and guide and yet allow people to make mistakes and work out that some things just take you in the wrong direction when overdone. That would be super cool.

However, before we get to that, I’m going to talk to you, as you are, right now - yes, YOU and what you can do for yourself.

In order to make your journey through life more comfortable, you can try and carpet the whole world … or you can put something under your own feet.

Ironing out ALL the wrinkles and challenges and sticky sharp things in the world is tricky, probably impossible. Putting something under your own feet? Super simple, right?

You can delete Facebook, throw your phone away, pack your job in, shift to a tropical island to avoid traffic and other people … OR you can learn to change how you react to these things. Wouldn’t that be simpler?

In a world where you will be externally out of control at least some of the time, if not many times … why not learn to control what you can?

Actually ... What can you control? What can you learn to control?

The stuff of life, the circumstances, the events, the people? Not always, not often, sometimes never. But you CAN control your choices, you can control your habitual reactions. At least you can learn to control them.

And that is where a regular practice of something like the Bright Path Ishayas Ascension comes in.

You get to see where your choice lays - how ultimately all of life begins from your attitude, your response and reaction to circumstances, your blaming or taking responsibility for your own actions.

Start there.

Unchain yourself from your reactions, your addictions, from your limitations, from the things within you that are holding you back and then see what life becomes, what Facebook becomes, what stress becomes.

Pad your own feet first and then see what might be done with the wrinkles of the world.

Start within, then move without (though don’t wait for perfection, you’ll course adjust as you go).

Awesome, you're awesome, I’m done - and have a great day!

Go well, Arjuna

And here’s how you learn to have freedom of choice. It's a free guide so you can get started right now. But ask me if you have any questions too:

www.arjunaishaya.com/freestuff

What sacrifice would you make for the perfect life?

That title is a touch dramatic, isn’t it? But after talking with someone the other day, I realised an important point. One that is so obvious now, but perhaps isn’t that clear to many people.

Now - I realise some of you are busy. I realise you sacrifice a lot already. I get that - read this carefully. Don’t add to your weight of life by misunderstanding what I’m saying, ok? I want to help you live a lighter life, not a heavier one. And if you have a question about this, get in touch. Alrighty? The important point is that to get anything, anything at all, you have to sacrifice something else.

To lose weight, you have to sacrifice certain foods, as well as time and effort to do some exercise. To learn to master your mind, and overwhelm and negativity along with it, you have to sacrifice time and a small amount of effort so you can practice it. You have to sacrifice those times when everyone else is watching Netflix - for example.

Or, perhaps you really want to watch the Game of Thrones with everyone, so you decide to wake up early and practice before everyone else has awoken. But then the sacrifice is having to get up out of bed early, when you’re sleepy and cosy, and it’s dark and cold.

There is always a sacrifice to be made in order to gain anything.

The trouble happens when you focus on what you’re sacrificing. You become so fixed on the missing the Game of Thrones (with that glass of wine) that you COMPLETELY miss what you’re gaining from your sacrifice. You miss the joy of improving, of becoming greater.

You don’t appreciate what you’re getting, and that is the reason why you pack it all in and go back to the same old, same old. I got this from Bubba - she who must be obeyed --->

I realise that I will never have a sleep in again. I will never just throw my kayak in the car and head off for a 5 day adventure on the spur of the moment. I will never be able to leave my book on the floor where she can chew it to pieces.

Now - I can resent her for making me make that sacrifice, or I can enjoy what she gives me - which is a huge amount of joy and a reminder of being constantly in the Now. And who could resent that cute little zombie face?

This goes with anything. Everything has a price. But - if you’re smart, you’ll see that everything has a reward too. You can resent the price, or you can enjoy the reward.

All this means is if you’re going to do something, make sure you really want to do it. Make sure you really focus on the reward, not on what you’re giving up.

And then it’s not really a sacrifice is it? It’s just a means to an end. It’s following that which gives you greater and greater joy.

Focus on the silver lining, always. It will transform your life.

Questions? Let me know, I’d love to help out if I can. Go well! Arjuna

PS. After all that, learning to master your mind and the chaos that goes with it requires very little sacrifice. Sure - you have to sit down and close your eyes consistently, but it’s such a pleasurable thing. Relaxing, time to yourself, recharging, it really is simple.

Gandhi said once reason he meditated was because it gave him more time in his busy day.

So do something! If you're interested, here’s some things I put together for you, for free:

www.arjunaishaya/freestuff

The lesson in stress, in pain, in life

Someone just asked me if meditation and mindfulness could help a bad back. She was saying that she thinks it’s caused by stress. And it could well do. I won't make any promises but the thing is that your mind is at the core of everything you do. Stress and overwhelm and negativity sometimes means your body hurts. It's your body's way of telling you to slow down, to stay calm, to rest, to stop fighting.

Sometimes when you change your mind you can change your body. A lot of aches and pains and illness can leave. It’s really amazing to see, miraculous even.

Sometimes however the body has it's own wisdom and the aches and pains and illness still remain. That can be so frustrating when you're chasing healing. There is always a lesson in there though - and when you stop and listen it becomes becomes obvious. And it’s not until you truly stop and listen can you hear.

Sometimes that lesson is that you're ultimately not in control of so much, so focus on the things you are in control of - like your attitude, like being grateful for what you do have, being content.

You can focus on what you think is wrong - or you can focus on what is right at the moment. Sometimes that is the extent of the lesson - what you focus on grows. Stop resisting what is wrong and start appreciating what is good.

Anyways - stopping and tuning in always gives more clarity. Pushing and resenting and resisting always makes things worse.

Stopping - and regularly so - is very valuable. It makes all of your life super simple and straight forward. Need help with that, or don’t get what I’m saying? Please just ask - I’d love to help.

Go well! Arjuna

PS. Learning and practicing these "108 things" is a really sweet way of stopping and ending stress, gaining clarity and perspective, getting rested and recharged, and helping all of your life in so many ways: https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sane-fb

And they're free!

I love great questions, don’t you?

Got a great question on the back of a recent email - The email was all about the importance of being fluid, of finding out what works for you - of not shying away from hard work, but avoiding harshness and rigidity like the plague. In other words, making sure you do what you do because the bottom line is more and more joy. ________

"A follow up question. Is there scope for rigour in our practice? I don't mean strictness or punishment. I'm just thinking about disciplines which do require followers to push themselves in order to achieve enlightenment." ________

This is such a great question. Here’s what I said:

Absolutely, there is space for zeal and commitment and integrity ... but it needs to be in the most useful direction. So often zeal is misdirected into activities that have no use in helping you become filled with presence, dissolving into that lovely state of clarity, stillness and peace.

AND ... quite often zeal and commitment becomes forcefulness and self-violence. It can be easy for many people to fall into suppression and rigidity and harshness and even out and out brutality. The fact is ANY SORT of controlling, trying, straining just slows your growth down.

Read that last line again ^^^

This path we’re talking about - one to greater and greater calm, contentment, fulfillment, joy, freedom … it requires no harshness or self-violence or even seriousness of any sort. You cannot have a more heavenly life travelling via hell.

Stubbornness? Yup - A very useful trait  - but it needs balancing with patience and gentleness and fluidity.

OK?

So take a load off. You keep stepping in the direction you want to go, keep practicing those right things, and you will master your mind, and enjoy all the benefits there of. With a bigger and bigger smile on your face.

Go well! Arjuna

PS. You will find your point of balance with all of this. Tune in, get present, and see what the best course of action for YOU is. You’ll have to give up the shoulds, and what everyone else is doing - but no one really wants them anyway, AND you shall find what works for you.

PPS. Tuning in, getting present, seeing what works for you? Head this way to get good at that:

https://arjunaishaya.lpages.co/houradaymindful/

Well, it’s alright for you Mr Monk

Some people assume that since I have a modicum of calm and contentment and self-awareness, that I was born this way. “It’s alright for you” they say, assuming that I have remained static throughout my life. It’s not the case. Being the way I am now, living the life I live now, and my attitude to it all - it has come from practice. In fact, it's all come from a determination to not let the negative and overwhelmed habits of my mind win.

Which is great news -

If I can get a degree of mastery over the limitation of my own mind, then you can too - no matter where you think you are beginning from. It’s just a matter of practicing until you become so good you can do it with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back (if you like that sort of thing).

Honestly - practice makes all the difference, and especially so when you’re ready to quit, when you’re thinking you’re useless and a loser, and what’s the point anyway? When you’re filled with negativity. When you’re filled with overwhelm, when you’re almost sick with worry and anxiety or doubt or regret.

I know these things. But no matter what is going on for you, there is a better way to live life. There is, and it’s definitely something you can have. And I think your heart knows that to be true - otherwise you wouldn't be reading this. It won’t let you quit until you find a way of living superbly, no matter what your head says.

You practice the right things and you will come out the other side. There’ll be a time when you might look back and you know you won’t ever go back to misery because you have mastered the cause of your own pain and suffering.

Then you can truly help someone else - from experience. And they’ll listen, because you’re talking the truth.

So don’t ever believe that calm and contentment, freedom from the limitations of your mind is only for someone else. That everyone else gets it, but you never will. That is, as they say, just complete bullpucky. You just ignore those thoughts and keep stepping and you’ll get there.

Alright? And if I can help? Please just drop me a line.

Go well! Arjuna

PS. Here’s a little practice that can really help you master your mind - a simple way to fill up your day with more awareness and presence, calm and joy.

And we have a growing Facebook group for direct help. Join up here:

https://arjunaishaya.lpages.co/houradaymindful/ 

A bizarre idea on how to be happy

A question, a great question, came in this morning:

______

“I’ve been told that if you don’t suffer you can’t know the meaning of happiness. What is your take on this?”

______

Bizarro! (That is my take on it).

First of all - I love people. One of the things that makes my life that extra bit sparklier is connecting with people, hanging out, inspiring, getting to know each other. Having said that, humanity holds some truly bizarre ideas to be true, such as the one above.

You know you enjoy something simply because of the fact that you like it, it is enjoyable in itself.

For example, I love apples. There is an apple tree in bubba’s grandad’s garden that is full of the most delightful apples. I could eat them all day long. Sometimes with peanut butter, most times without. Yom, yom and yom.

I do not need to eat brussel sprouts (which I detest) to know how much I love these apples. I do not need to even merely smell a durian fruit (if you don’t know it - look it up - the description is enough to make you shudder) to know how good these apples are. I do not need to suffer in any way for these apples to make me very, very happy.

Do you get that?

Suffering is not necessary to enjoy. Not at all.

In fact - suffering need not be apart of life. It doesn’t make you human. It isn’t necessary, at all. You were born into joy, life doesn’t HAVE to include anything else but joy.

The only benefit to suffering could be giving you the motivation to find a way never to go into suffering again. I know it did that for me.

But beyond that, a path into heaven just gets more heavenly the more you walk it. It doesn’t go through hell. That just doesn’t make sense. OK?

Now - ask yourself, if it’s even a tiny bit possible that I’m right on this, why not investigate ways of being free from suffering? Wouldn’t that make life truly amazing?

Yes indeed, it would.

Go well!

Arjuna

PS.

Well those 15 minutes coaching slots filled up quick! I might do some more in December, but what I would advise, if you haven’t already, is get onto my mindfulness challenge -

Here’s the link to all the info, and the facebook group:

https://arjunaishaya.lpages.co/houradaymindful/ 

You choose hell or heaven for yourself

I get a lot of emails, which I love. I've just sat with my cup of tea and gone through them.

I love being of service, I mean, I took vows of service as an Ishaya AND I really love helping people who want to do things differently - which is handy, isn’t it?

I love sharing my experience of the choices that mean you have peace and calm in your life, and equally those choices that mean you have stress, overwhelm, negativity - pain.

For me it all comes down to ONE thing. And this one thing is this:

Heaven and hell is all your choice.

Realising how you do that to yourself is an incredible moment. A real "aha!" and a chance to move forward, a chance to do something differently - IF you're willing.

When you take that half step back you can see this clearer and sooner. When you’re rushing, when you’re so involved in the troubles of life, when you’re IN the drama you can’t see this so well.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got?

Slow down a touch. Take regular moments to get your perspective and your baseline back. Nothing is lost through regular recalibration, everything is gained.

The ability to see where you create hell or heaven for yourself is such a wonderful gift. After all, life isn’t so much about the circumstances, but how you deal with these circumstances.

You can’t control everything. Sometimes, often times, you’re just thrown a wobbly one and left to get on and deal with it.

Your ability to choose your attitude, choose which thoughts you listen to and which you ignore, choose to be wrapped up in a past or a future you have no control over or be present …

All these things are priceless in not only getting what you want from life, but enjoying each and every step along the way.

Each and every step.

It all begins now. All of life is crystallised into right now. This is it. Such a joy because you - if you allow yourself - get to start again, fresh, over and over. A restart.

Go well, make it about what you can do, now.

Arjuna

PS.

If you're interested in this sort of thing, you might really like a free guide I wrote - 108 ways you can remember your choice for calm, your choice for peace, your choice for freedom.

Here it is if you'd like a copy:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sane-fb

The most little known yet super effective way of helping someone

Question from someone that came in yesterday, and it’s a doozy:

___________

Do you believe in feeling other people's pain because there are a hell of a lot of hurting people out there.

People who have lost their soul mate of 30 years, like me. War torn families, famine, then there’s all the muggings, burglary. So many people are not happy, they are damaged and hurting and ill-treated etc.

How do you account these things? I can't just close my eyes to someone else's suffering, it's selfish and insensitive.

___________

You’re right, there is so much suffering in the world, so much misery and confusion. People are hurting and ill-treated and unhappy.

How can you help?

Especially when it’s someone close to you, your kids, your partner, your family - you want to help, and if you could take the pain away from them, you would, right?

You want to DO something - and so there’s a tendency to feel someone’s pain as if it was your own, because it feels like helping. Then there’s that commonly held belief that not feeling means you’re closing your eyes to their suffering. It’s selfish not to, correct?

But how does this help them?

How does you being miserable as well assist them?

I’m not talking about not acknowledging and being sensitive to someone’s pain, I’m not talking about not doing what you can to help them out - but throwing yourself in the pit with them is not useful, to either of you, AT ALL.

What they need is for you to be standing on solid ground. At peace, calm, clear, with your sense of humour about you. You then become their anchor in the middle of the chaos.

When all their certainty and stability is gone, when it’s all been thrown up in the air, you act as their rudder, their point of reference, their lighthouse in the dark.

Alright?

So no need to suffer. They need you to not suffer - they need you solid and dependable, not dramatic and wobbly.

Best thing you can do for anyone - and the least known, the most uncommon.

Suffering is not required for you to help anyone. In fact it doesn’t help anyone, ever, at all. 

Go well!

Arjuna

PS.

When you get on a plane, they always say to put your own oxygen mask on first, then help others.

It’s true in any part of life - and here’s the best oxygen you can get, and it's free:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sane-fb

Breathe deep!