Is your life imprisoned by patterns?
Patterns of thought are so pervasive that we can become blind to their impact on our lives. There are patterns of worry, of anxiety, of laziness, of shyness, of rashness, of anger, etc. The list is a long one. We become accustomed to these patterns and they become part of our identity. They are vortices of energy that suck us into their swirling waters.
Here’s a question that’s been on my mind lately: Do I wish to continue living with patterns that have run and controlled my life since my soul’s inception? Or do I choose, with the exercise of awareness, to allow inspiration to unfold my life for me? That is, I can either repeat the same patterns of actions or I can proceed out of inspiration.
I heard a singer the other night comment on one of his songs, a song about suffering. He said that people who follow the religious path do so out of fear of hell but the people who follow a spiritual path do so because they have already been through hell. What do you think of that type of a comment?
How true it seems to me! Patterns eventually turn life to hell. And the suffering that is engendered disrupts the long-held patterns. The breakthrough comes with the aid of inspiration – listening to that voice within and following it. But it takes awareness to hear that voice.
Without awareness we just continue to live as if we are in a movie that gets replayed day after day. We remain stuck in our personal hell, like Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day. It’s one of my favorite movies. And the wonderful part about it was how after numerous repeats of the same patterns he became unstuck. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.
The movie is a great example of how someone’s thick layers of negative mental makeup (created from past experiences) can create such an unhappy and distorted viewpoint of life. It also shows how life presents us with opportunities to undo what isn’t working. And by the end of the movie, the Bill Murray character is taking advantage of every possible opportunity to live life fully, with love, compassion, creativity and tenderness. And he finds freedom and a fulfilled and happy life. If you’re like me, you love a happy ending.
If you feel that your life is the same repeat day after day, with the same patterns of habits and reactions and dislikes and negativity, then you are living out your own version of Groundhog’s Day. That is the equivalent of being in prison with a multiple lifetime sentence.
And there is only one way out. Follow your inner voice, the voice of intuition and inspiration. It takes courage and daring. But it will be an adventure that never gets boring.
If you are being honest with yourself, you will begin seeing opportunities of service, of compassion, of love where you couldn’t see them before. When you find one, put your whole heart into it. That will plant the seed for another opportunity. Take advantage of every one.
Am I asking you to be the next Mother Theresa? No. I’m challenging you to be the real you.
This is the level of awareness that eventually culminates in the elimination of negative emotions like worry, fear, and anger. This is the unfoldment of real life and the discovery of the deepest meaning of your existence.
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