Trading Illusions

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Just over half way through a rather difficult part of my journey, I realize that I have gained interesting new perspectives on things.  Not just on some things, but everything under the sun.  I think back over the days and years and notice how within my life I have traded the illusion for truth time after time and you might think that is frustrating and I can assure you it feels frustrating in the moment.  But, just one single deep breath and it doesn’t take but a moment to realize that trading illusions for refinements of truth is one of life’s beautiful blessings.

There are so many emotions we experience as we learn about our life and life in general.  We fight or otherwise resist them based on how we think we should be, feel or act in response to a certain experience.  In all honesty, this only serves to prevent our progress and stunts our growth immeasurably.  For if we are to grow at all, we must learn at least one of many important things about life during our time here and one of those is acceptance for starters.  That acceptance means accepting ourselves and how we feel or act or even react to situations, things or people.  We must be as we are and be okay with that.  We must learn to observe how we feel and how we act and watch with child-like curiosity and question it.  We must learn to be.

This is not easy by any stretch of the imagination but well worth the journey my friends.  Now as I sit here considering what I have come to learn from my life time so far, I realize all the things I used to beat myself up for was merely the act of trading illusion for little bits more of the truth I truly desire.  And I realized something else.  That desire for truth can be fulfilled only from the inside out and can never be had from the outside in.  Oh don’t get me wrong, there are many who point to the light and correctly so but until you know the light from within, you wouldn’t even know what to do with it.

So, I hope you struggle a bit here and there now and then.  It’ll give you character rather than do you any real and lasting harm.  I hope you encounter conflict on your journey.  It’ll help you sharpen your truest sense of authenticity.  I hope you encounter the haters, they naysayers and invalidators.  They’ll make you seek shelter deep within the heart of your being where the truth really lives about you and about life.  No, I do not wish you ill.  Please don’t misunderstand. What I wish is for you to find those tools that will enable you to truly refine your minds, your consciousness, your bodies, your spirits and souls.  It is not through easy sailing in a perfect wind that we truly learn sailing.  No, it is through navigating the stormy seas of life that we test ourselves and truly learn. 

Try, if you can, to muster the courage and strength to stand and face all that creates fear and worry within you.  Struggle to pull yourself up if you fall.  Talk to yourself lovingly and with compassion when you fail for even in failure you are refining everything that you are.  Every experience that we have here, dear ones, matters.  Maybe not for the reasons you think but for more important and less tangible ones.  It’s always like that, isn’t it?  The best comes after the hardest journey.  The fun part is we create all of this chaos just to relax within the order that follows.  The more chaos we create in our own minds, the more refinement we’ll have to work on.  And as we endeavor to engage in refining activities, we’ll be and do things differently as we go and the better off we’ll be at some point down the line or maybe right now as you recollect all you’ve faced.  Maybe the dominoes have already been lined up for you.  Well, knock’em down each and everyone and watch as each theme of your life is beautifully tied together in a way you will understand.  And you will understand.  And you will learn.  And you will grow.  Blessings of infinite understanding beautiful dreamers.

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© 2015 Jaie Hart (photo and words)