From freedom to suffering: A personal story

Both this morning and yesterday have been extremely stressful, emotional, dampened, low-energy, and negative days for me.

I’ve been worrying.

About money. About life.

Just not clear on my purpose.

Forgetting and not practicing all that I know. I got out of some positive mental habits. Became unconscious.

Sad. Lonely. Depressed. Anxious. Pressured. Stressed. Tense. Angry. Unhappy.

Of course, there were moments when I would be present. Able to find the magic and happiness in the moment – – but not for long.

It’s like I kept reverting back to my old, standard, bad mental habits.

My mental space cluttered from recycled thoughts that were not serving me.

But you know, I feel like I’ve made tremendous progress today though. And caffeine helps. 😉 (Thank you Starbucks!)

And I’ll tell you: It’s 1000% harder to have a tough and trying day when I know what it’s like to truly be free.

Free from the mind.

Free from the negativity.

Free from the overwhelming mental chatter that doesn’t serve me.

Going from absolute freedom, to being caged up within my suffering… It feels bad.

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So that’s why I’m writing you today. Even the most present of us in life can lose sight of the now. Can lose sight of this magical life.

The wonder. The beauty.

May this be a message of hope.

Know that the clouds don’t hide the sun forever. Clarity comes eventually. And then you’re back in the game: This absolute beautiful game of life.

Constantly cycling. Up and down. Finding our balance.

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So let me ask you: Where are you now? Could you use some balance in your life?

I love you.

I’m here for you.

I hope this message can help you bounce back to greatness. To happiness. To absolute inner joy and peace.

With more joy and love and dedication to living life to the fullest,
❤ Brittany

“Another cup of tea, please.” (Part 3)

Hi friend 🙂 Welcome! And thanks for stopping by.

This post is a continuation from an earlier post, “Another cup of tea, please.” (Part 1).

— I advise you to start there first, then come back 😉 But totally feel free to hang out here for a little while longer! (You might just enjoy it. ❤ )

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So you remember how I said that I have somehow deluded myself into believing that each and every moment can be perfect?

Well, the truth is that every moment IS in fact perfect. (Perhaps just not my idea of perfect.)

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Because, you see?

Perfection is in a flower.

She is created just the way it she supposed to be.

And she does her job beautifully.

Perfectly.

She grows. She buds up and blossoms. She synthesizes the sunlight. Creates her own food.

Eats and grows.

Finding contentment in “just being.”

Feeling the light breeze.

The warm sunlight.

Sometimes the rain falls and it’s painful, but the rain always ends eventually.

But the flower knows that!

And she stays strong through it all.

She knows the sun will come out again one day. And that she will be okay.

She’s delighted to give of herself fully to those who notice her existence. Her radiant beauty.

She is happy.

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“BUT!” you might say, “That’s TOO SIMPLE!”

“It can’t be that simple!”

Oh but it is.

And once we are able to come to this realization, and to truly see the perfection and beauty in every living thing..

It is there that we find the innermost joy and fulfillment. In that very moment.

Happiness doesn’t come from THINGS. Or OTHER PEOPLE.

It comes from within.

We come to notice that it is within the simplest things in life, that we can find perfection. Find lasting joy and fulfilment.

The flower is perfect.

Just “being.” No effort required.

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I later chatted with an old friend. “Its a journey,” he says. “The only thing I can promise you about this life, is that things always change.”

That’s a tough one for me to accept. Change is uncertain. It’s uncomfortable. Yet, without it, we become dead. Dull. Bored.

That’s why we become so beautiful when we start learning.

Learning how to deal with change. To change our perspective. To put an end to creating our own personal hell and prison within our minds. (Which, in turn, creates our own suffering.)

When we start learning to be self-compassionate. To comfort ourselves. To allow others to help us when we need it.

To take personal responsibility for our feelings and emotions. To be strong and wise enough to know when to take a time out, when to speak words of kindness — to others, but most importantly ourselves.

I keep learning that we’re not always given what we want, but what we need.

And may we strive to be mindful of that. May we strive to be grateful. For everything that we experience in life.

We’re here to grow. To sharpen one another. And we’re not alone. We’re not alone in the struggle. The struggle to find balance within our lives, within ourselves.

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So happiness? Like TRUE, DEEP, AMAZINGLY ABUNDANT happiness?

It’s found from within.

Quiet the mind. Allow yourself to just “be.”

Allow happiness to flow from the soul.

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Thank you for reading. I hope I’ve been able to help or inspire you in some way.

If there’s another way that I can add value to your life, please let me know!

Reach out, ask questions. I reply to every comment. I’d love to hear from you 🙂

With all the love and joy a heart can hold,
❤ Brittany

“Another cup of tea, please.” (Part 2)

Hi friend 🙂 Welcome! And thanks for stopping by.

This post is a continuation from an earlier post, “Another cup of tea, please.” (Part 1).

— I advise you start there first, then come back 😉 But totally feel free to hang out here for a little while longer! (You might just enjoy it. ❤ )

---

I read in a book today: The Art of Happiness.

And the Dalai Lama spoke to my soul.

He explained that there’s a difference between “happiness” and “pleasure.” Which I’m pretty sure I get the two confused a lot.

So here’s his take on it–

The Dalai Lama says that “True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it’s there, the next day it may not be.”

So inn response to him, the narrator of the book, Howard Cutler shared a few thoughts:

“On the surface, it seemed like a fairly obvious observation; of course, happiness and pleasure were two different things. And yet, we human beings are often quite adept at confusing the two.”

So after reading a bit, I hopped on over to the computer and started listening to a self-compassion meditation by Dr. Krisin Neff.

I’ve been on a search lately in an effort to find more compassion in my life-

Compassion for other people, animals, the planet, and mainly, myself. So I gave this one a try, and it helped me out.

A lot.

I allowed myself to feel what I felt.

To not fight it.

To allow the emotions of feeling hurt, unloved, and unwanted to be in my body.

I allowed myself to feel compassion towards myself. After all, it is painful going through inner turmoil. My chest starts feeling tense. My breath becomes shallow. My mind races.

I slouch and close off my heart from the world.

I don’t feel safe.

But when I turn inward..that’s when the love and joy start to flow once again..

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Stick around for the last part next Thursday! I think you’ll be glad you did 😉

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Thank you again friend, for reading! I hope I’ve been able to help or inspire you in some way.

If there’s another way that I can add value to your life, please let me know.

Reach out, ask questions. I reply to every comment. I’d love to hear from you 🙂

With all the love and joy a heart can hold,
❤ Brittany