If a baby thought about how hard it would be to crawl or to stand or walk, it would probably never attempt to do any of these. But babies don’t ‘think’ like we do. And that is why they accomplish what the adult mind would consider staggering feats if that mind actually stopped to think about it.
Image by Eugenio Zampighi at Wikimedia
Consider, for instance, any adult who has suffered spinal injury following an accident and is now confined to a wheelchair. Should they try to defy the odds and succeed in walking again, it would be hailed as nothing short of a miracle.
The effort required to retrain the brain and body to coordinate in a way that enables movement such as standing and walking would be considered phenomenal.
Not too many people succeed. Even less actually attempt it. The thought of having to put in such effort and the possibility of failure especially within the context of medical and conventional ‘wisdom’ (ignorance, really) is just too prohibitive for many.
The adult thinks and often and easily thinks herself into all kinds of limitations. The baby, on the other hand, does not think. It’s not stupid. On the contrary, its ‘raw’ wisdom or instinct serves it far better than any amount of thinking would. And so, the baby accomplishes the staggering feats of crawling, sitting, standing, walking and talking, sometimes in several languages.
Shakespeare said,
Nothing is either good or bad, only thinking makes it so.
We might say,
Nothing is either easy or difficult, only thinking makes it so
Buddha said,
With your thoughts you create the world
If you’re going to think, you might as well think thoughts that actually help you and make your life easier. But, do we have a choice over what thoughts we think? No and Yes.
As long as we are not present, thoughts will stream through our consciousness including those that trigger unpleasant feelings and these effects will persist as long as we dwell on them.
When we are present, however, we can simply notice these thoughts and let them stream through uninterrupted. Like clouds, they will eventually dissipate. Meanwhile, we can remind ourselves again and again who and what we truly are – Love, Truth, God, the all-encompassing Whole.
Image by Ipoenik Graphic
We can remind ourselves of this INNOCENCE or IN-ESSENCE that we truly are. Babies and little children express this most faithfully because their thinking has not ‘developed’ to the extent that it has in adults. As an expression of their true essence, babies accomplish astounding feats.
Adults who have accomplished astounding feats often speak about conquering the mind in order to do so. They know only too well how our thinking gets in the way of what would be otherwise effortlessly achievable. The ‘hard work’ and ‘effort’ that adults have to endure is first and foremost about overcoming mental obstacles.
So, as 2016 draws to a close and a whole new year spreads across our horizon, I would like to invite you to return to INNOCENCE, to who and what you truly are IN ESSENCE – Love, Limitlessness, Power, Truth, Freedom, Peace, Joy…
This innocence is the innocence of self-knowledge, of knowing and being that which you truly are. This innocence is the innocence of being free from Ego-identification and all its lies of separation, limitation, unworthiness, guilt and powerlessness.
Image at Wikimedia
Return to the nature of a child so that you are free from the falsehood and corruption of conditioned thinking, believing and behaving. A baby knows none of this and so it accomplishes great things.
Likewise, we too would accomplish great things if we would lose the falsehood of the Ego’s reality and fall instead into the reality of Truth, of Love and being Love, which is what we truly and eternally are.
Jesus advised us so:
Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven – Mathew 18:3
The kingdom of heaven is that state of consciousness in which our physical and material reality is a natural and effortless unfolding of our non-physical reality which is God, which is Love, which is limitlessness.
So, become like little children. Return to who you truly are IN ESSENCE (Innocence). Accomplish whatever you want by letting Love, Truth, guide you. No need for thinking. Let Awareness, Presence, God, Love, Truth itself guide you into accomplishing everything that IT (which is what you truly are) wants.
Spend the first and last minutes everyday intending this and consciously allowing it. Take time several times a day to refresh this intention and expand this allowing. With deep, conscious and slow breaths, return again and again to Innocence, to who and what you truly are In Essence and accomplish all that Love desires.
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