living it, quite another.
Sharing our thoughts, derived and formulated by what we read and living them are different things altogether.
Put very simply, this is our own unique journey - one which we have to undertake by ourselves and in our own way. No one can walk even a part of the way with us. At best, they can be around to encourage us when we take a break at a caravanserai in our mind. But the journey......it is what we have to do alone.
All we have to do is to smile, breathe and be in the present moment, giving our mind the space to solve painful issues.
It's not easy. For one thing, we have to pull out from the very depths of our being all those things that we have pushed under layers of trying to forget...we have to face these, no matter how harsh or hard or terrible or devastating. Only then will we be able to resolve them.
The second thing is that we have to face up to our daily struggles. Struggles come attached to suffering. We want to find meaningful work; we want to have a better life for ourselves and our families; loved ones leave us; we have health issues; we have dreams that we want to fulfill; we go through painful separations, divorce, death; we feel unworthy; we feel as if we are mentally and emotionally in pieces; we have huge self-esteem issues; we have old parents and ill people who need looking after and not enough resources to do so; we don't have anyone we can fall back on or we have friends who are fair weather ones.....so many little things - struggles - build up to form huge blocks of pain and suffering. Again, it is only when we face up to them as they are and look at them in the present moment without adding in the past and future and a host of other things, that we will be able to think clearly and resolve them.
It is only when we are able to get on to the path of resolving all that concerns us that we will find a lasting peace, sense of ease and a new capacity to look at each moment of each day.
Naturally, for this we will need to make changes in our day to make it easy on the mind....so bring about changes in the daily routine (remember Nature is an example that everything gets done and we do not have to rush about and hurry so), give ourselves space (again Nature shows us that each plant needs space around it to grow) and make time for meditation...