Even when we are aware of the brokenness of the paradigms we are living by, it is still quite difficult to act out of accordance with said paradigms. The belief that we are basically incomplete, lacking individuals who are separate from one another is so strong it is a constant effort to remember we are happy, free, whole, complete, and connected. 

At any moment, we can sink into the sacred nature of the now. Our minds tell us that now can be better, or we grasp to the "nows" that are enjoyable, or we resist the "nows" that are unpleasant. The practice is to notice that awareness is sacredly present in every "now" and to constantly reorient ourselves from this awareness.

The mind tells us that happiness is in the experience, and that "now" is not good enough/can be better. The move here is to return to awareness and experience things FROM our inherent happiness, not FOR our happiness to be present. 

Awareness is the same whether I am looking at a beautiful sunset or sitting in a meeting with my insurance agent reviewing our car insurance policy. The mind wants us to believe happiness is in the sunset experience, and that suffering is in the insurance meeting, but actually awareness is the same in both. 

A common question we all ask each other is "how are you?" In doing so, we unconsciously form a social contract that says "I am asking you the body-mind individual how are you?" My answer, when asked this question is "I am great, the body and mind are trying to catch up to me!"

There are three pains that result from object-dependent happiness: 1. the pain of acquiring the object, 2. the pain of preserving the object, 3. the pain of the eventual loss of the object. Orienting as the self, as awareness, we can still enjoy objects but we do not depend on them to make us happy. 

This morning, I jsut felt the need to tell my story of how I came to Vedanta/nonduality. There's a lot in here, including multiple visits from my awesome cat August! If you want to understand what it takes to get to lasting peace and happiness, this is the episode to listen to.

Despite my growing belief that we live in a deterministic universe and therefore do not have "free will" in the way most think about it, I do believe we can setup our environment so it is aligned with the beliefs "I am free, happy, whole, complete" and "everyone and everything is connected." 

Changing paradigms is the most powerful way to change a system's outputs, but it also requires us to leave the old paradigms behind. Doing so, when others we love are still living in the old paradigm, causes pain, but the belief in the new paradigm makes it impossible to go back. 

When I make a choice between one thing or another, am I the one who is choosing? We like to believe the answer is yes, but the emerging science seems to say no, or at least to make us pause in believing we have free will. What implications does this have for how we live?