The Only Thing we Need to Do

“The only thing we need to do is be.”

-Lao Tzu

 

Do … do … do … driven by doing. Not just outer doing, but inner doing too. The mind is constantly in overdrive to do, looking for the next thing to do now, or to put on our “To Do” list for later.

This constant scurry of activity or “movement of the mind” is the driving force in most people’s lives, and creates all our suffering.

Making time for “being” can be challenging as we try to carve space out of this constant drive to do. Yet, in truth, it’s the only real necessity. The only thing we really need to do is to be, as Lao Tzu said all those hundreds of years ago.

If we stop for a moment, most of us find it difficult to stay in the “not-doing” placeless place of being for very long. As soon as the next thought arises, usually about something that needs doing or we desire to do, we immediately get caught in its stickiness and mindlessly, unquestioningly go forward to do its bidding.

How often do you find yourself in that place that could be a relaxing into emptiness, into simply being, and fill it with the seeking out what to do next, or what to do now. How about just being? For most, easier said than done. There’s that word again … it’s a slave driver, constantly demanding our attention: Do … do … do …

Try doing this: Sit down for 10 minutes. Not 30, not 20 … just 10 minutes. And with the intention to sit for the full 10 minutes.
As you sit in silence, you can “do” this: Watch your breath.

On the in breath think the thought “Let it happen”. On the out breath, think the thought “Let it go”. That’s it … that’s all you need to do in these 10 minutes. And, you may find it won’t be easy, but stay with it and keep bringing yourself back to the exercise.

As thoughts arise, your addiction to them will tempt you to follow them and drop the exercise. Watch carefully yet gently. Notice the desire to stop practicing … really see it, then simply continue, back into observing and “doing” the technique: On the in breath, “Let it happen” and on the out breath, “Let it go”.  You may come to the point of wanting to stop the practice once, twice, three times or more in the 10 minutes … simply take note, but keep going.

These 10 minutes may well be the most important 10 minutes in your life. By simply taking note of what is, watching carefully all our caught-upedness and addiction to thought, and simply “Let it happen” and “Let it go”. In fact, this exercise doesn’t need to stop after the 10 minutes. Take it out into your day and see what happens.

Breathe In … Let it happen
Breathe out … and let it go

Breathe In … Let it happen

Breathe out … and let it go

 

The only thing you need to do is be.

Freedom Is

The need to be free is really the ego feeling its own self-made entrapment. In truth, Freedom is.

Freedom is our own true nature … as Unconditioned Awareness, there is no movement into or away from This, this that we always are and always will be. The only movement “towards” or “away” from This, takes place in our minds. Our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, our sensations … all simply happen, yet the pull “for” or “against” them is what creates and perpetuates the semblance of separation, the split that is the need to go towards or away from something else, something other than what is, ultimately the movement away from This … and that’s why we suffer.

Freedom is. These two words speak volumes about truth, reality and suffering. As soon as our attention falls into identification with our thoughts, we lose ourselves yet again in the egoic trance that holds 99% of humanity captive.

It’s subtle … yet, it’s also very simple: Freedom is.

It’s not a constructed or created form of freedom but the actual Free Beingness that allows for all of life to continue to live and evolve.

This innate freedom is the very fabric of life itself, it’s the backdrop of life and it’s also the foreground. It’s all this very same one Freedom, breathing Itself into each moment, being each moment … allowing all of creation to pulsate, expand, contract and express and be.

Yet, something so constant, so present and so readily available is so very easily overlooked. Why and how?
Our inability to recognise what’s actually happening  keeps us captive and spellbound in our heads.

The truth is, free we are … vast, eternal, pure, clear, loving and so very real ... just as we are.

This … This … This … This one 4 letter word points to This that is.

If we let go, stop trying to hold It, stop trying to find It, stop trying to know It … This reveals Itself.

Freedom is … simply drop back in … not in movement, but in that simple allowing that calls us back to the Heart.

Here, all is clear. The Heart is the Infinite Eternal Spacious Beingness that simply is and simply allows … see This … Know This … Be This ...

Freedom is in This.

HeartDrop

HeartDrop. I stumbled into this word the other day, can't remember where.
HeartDrop ... I love the sound of it ... but what does it mean?
For me it describes the precious moments we allow ourselves to drop back into the Heart ... those moments of non-separation ... yes, the unconditioned awareness that is our natural state.
Each moment is in truth always already a HeartDrop whether we are aware of it or not ... becoming aware of it brings in the Joy that is already here, awaiting Its recognition.
The Heart sees ... the Heart feels ... the Heart tastes ... the Heart knows, but not in the same way as the mind.
The Heart is the ground of Being that holds all of life. It's the spaciousness that is vast and eternal, it's what is before thought lays claim to it, yet, mysteriously it's also the very essence of what thought is too.
This moment, just as it is, is always a HeartDrop.
HeartDrop is also the delicate droplet of bliss, of joy, of insight that gently flows out into our lives. These droplets are the pure essence of Being. These HeartDrops are the Love tears of the Divine ... both tears of joy and tears of sorrow that emanate from the very same source of stillness that sits right here, right where we are right now ... You are a HeartDrop.
One drop of purity that is equal to the Infinite ocean of Eternal Love that is Source ... God Itself. You are That. And there's no separating This from That ... no separation between This that you are from That.
When we drop back into our hearts a profound mystery instantly reveals itself. The little contracted, thought-constructed sense of self that inhabits our minds vanishes and the Vast, Infinite and Eternal Beingness that we truly are reveals Itself as the everpresent ground of constancy that we are. No questions ... no answers ... all is resolved in this HeartDrop.
The way back in to the Heart is not a long road, it's not complicated or difficult really ...but it does take courage and a willingness to consciously cease identifying ourselves in our memories.
When we stop believing the thoughts that construct the "little me" of separation, we give ourselves the space to drop back in ... to drop back down  ... to fall into grace, back into our Hearts.
How? Stop believing in the thoughts about "me" and "you" ... stop giving over our unconscious attention to the mind, and allow the miracle of This, just as It is to reveal Itself.
Do the HeartDrop and set youself free.
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