The Mindful Acceptance of Beliefs
I think, therefore I am.
But who am I?
What am I?
I am whatever I believe I am.
And my beliefs change nothing.
You are whatever you think you are.
Whatever you have made up.
Whatever your creative mind created.
Whatever “they” told you to believe.
You are free to believe
Whatever it is you believe.
In “this,” and not “that.”
And nothing changes.
Beliefs are the paint on the canvas.
Awareness is the canvas.
And the paint.
And the painter.
Awareness is the room that the canvas, paint and painter are in.
And absolutely everything else.
Inside and outside.
To the stars and beyond.
Awareness is the thought in the artist’s head.
The feelings in the artist’s body.
It is the artist’s intuitive creativity.
And the decisions the artist makes.
Your beliefs are created within you,
Within awareness.
Not one of your beliefs has ever occurred outside of you,
Or outside of awareness.
Your belief is allowed to be
Whatever it is.
Just as it is.
Held in awareness.
Awareness is alive within the belief.
It is the belief.
Each thought and whatever you believe
Occurs within awareness.
A unique expression of itself.
Nothing is left out.
Nothing can be.
For it is not possible for anything to occur outside,
As there is no outside
And no inside.
Whatever your beliefs, your attitudes, your values,
Nothing can change what awareness is.
Awareness is unchangeable and allows all beliefs.
Holding them all.
Each and every single belief is allowed,
Accepted without rejection or favour.
Nothing you believe can change what you are.
Awareness itself cannot change what you are.
For you are awareness itself.
All your beliefs belong to you,
And you belong to awareness.
You can keep your beliefs,
But only if you want them.
Only if you believe them.
Awareness doesn’t mind either way about your beliefs.
It has no opinion on such matters.
So you are free to believe whatever you want,
And only the mind cares about such things.
Whatever you believe or don’t believe
Will never put the slightest dent in awareness,
Nor change its shape at all.
For it holds infinite beliefs of all shapes and sizes,
And has room for all of yours.
Whatever you think,
Whatever you believe,
The awareness that you are
Remains indestructibly unchangeable.
Now, and forever and ever.
Amen.
Nothing is Missing
Nothing is missing from the world, it is complete.
Everything here is supposed to be here, because it is here.
Nothing is missing from you, as you are complete just as you are.
There is nothing in you that should not be there.
There is nothing that happened to you that should not have happened.
There is nothing you feel that should not have been felt,
Nothing you said that should not have been said,
And nothing you thought that should not have been thought.
It all should have happened as it did, because it did.
You can argue with and disagree with your past,
About what happened to you,
And say, “It wasn’t right, it should not have happened that way.”
“Why me?” you say.
“Why not you?” say I.
You know you can’t change the past,
But you are free to live with it in pain and regret,
And live the life you never wanted.
That is your right.
The mind remembers, the body remembers,
Exactly the way you remember it, exactly the way you feel it.
But the past is forever only a memory
That can only be experienced in this present moment.
Or you can live for the future,
Which will never arrive,
And miss this moment,
Waiting for something better than “right now.”
Your life is happening now.
What that is, is all there is.
There is no future to get to,
And no past to undo.
Be happy or unhappy.
Awareness doesn’t mind either way,
And perhaps you don’t get to choose.
Perhaps it’s not up to you.
Whatever happened before has already happened.
It was supposed to go that way.
It was the only way; there was no other,
And even if there was, it’s now way too late to do anything about that.
So we are left with whatever we think and feel in this moment.
It is all we have; it is everything.
The past, it happened,
And the future is never going to happen.
Right now, right now is happening.
The time is always now.
This present moment is alive.
The past is dead,
The future forever unborn.
We do not need to live with the dead,
Or the unborn.
As Jesus once said, “let the dead bury the dead.”
So let the past bury the past,
And live with the living,
In alignment with life as it unfolds.
Your heart is beating, breathing is happening,
Your mind is thinking, your body is feeling.
All of that is happening.
Now, and now, and now,
All without you having to do anything to make any of it happen.
There isn’t anything you can do about the way your life has unfolded,
Or how it is unfolding now.
And you can’t change what you are experiencing in this very moment,
As it occurs, right now.
You can’t stop yourself from regretting your past mistakes,
Or from worrying about your future.
You can’t put a stop to what you think and feel,
But you can notice and be aware.
The completeness of this very moment,
With nothing left out, is all there is.
It is all included.
It is as it is, in just the way it is.
There is nothing for you to do about anything,
Apart from being with the reality of how it is.
Noticing and seeing, watching and waiting,
Seeing yourself deciding this and doing that.
Aligning with the mystery of life,
As it unfolds before your very eyes.
Read more of the author’s thoughts on awareness by visiting MINDFUL THINKING: A poetic contemplation on the elusive nature of awareness»
