Finding Our Way Home

To the extent that we live in our heads, in the "story of me" (or "story of my cult"), disconnected from direct moment-to-moment engagement with life as it is, we're not authentic, not really living. When we're not 100% authentic, we fail ourselves, fail others, fail life. In the surprisingly powerful (2016) documentary film, "Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru", Robbins bluntly emphasizes “Stay in your head, you’re dead.”

Mindfulness practices are laboratories for clearly seeing all one's accumulated conditioning that distracts, distorts, limits, deadens, but also the fertilizer out of which we grow. All that manure - psychological baggage, noise, friction - manifests through continuous self-talk. It crusts over and almost completely obscures our authenticity.

During mindfulness practices, all this conditioning is on vivid display, so we can skillfully examine it directly, with genuine curiosity, accept it completely, let it be and let it go. Remember to "Leave the front door open, leave the back door open, but don't serve tea".

It takes some courage to release this load of conditioning, because on some level we actually believe that this story is who/what we are (cognitive fusion), and thus cling to it as if it were life itself! A recent poster reminds us "My mental health is part of me, but it does not define me."

Trust that when we skillfully, gently, patiently, persistently release all the distorted self-images, we will not disappear. Instead, freedom and authenticity shines forth.