I'm not sure about you but I'm an over thinker... There's something inside of me that has to know, has to play out different scenarios, and has to have data before I can make a big decision. When I have big decisions to make or something that is weighing on my mind and the world and the people around me add their chaos.... this sends my brain into total OVERLOAD and if I don't find a way to calm it my anxiety hits the roof!
For the past few months I've had a few things weighing on my mind, I have felt like I was lost.... my life was completely changing and it scared the hell out of me! I didn't know where I belonged or who I even was anymore. My life had been defined for so many years and all of a sudden every thing I had held on to was gone.... and I was humbled. I know that sounds weird to some of you, but let me explain....
For the first time in my life I have had to completely turn everything over to the Big Guy upstairs... don't get me wrong I rely on him daily, but never in my life have I felt like I just didn't belong and I was just here with no real reason to keep pushing forward. I have always had things I HAD to do to take care of my family, goals to better myself, and dreams I strived to accomplish.... and then within a 6 month period that all changed. My life took a turn and there I stood alone spinning in circles trying to find just one thing that seemed familiar to me that I could grasp on to bring me back to that comfortable place I knew. Well it didn't happen.... my life and my brain were in complete chaos and I couldn't seem to fix it, and it changed me.... it changed the things I want in life, it changed what I will allow in my life, it changed my view on some of the people in my life, it changed how I look at myself, and it changed my beliefs....
As some of you have read in past blogs I was searching and trying to find a religion that I fit in.... that would accept me with all of my flaws and scars. Now this wasn't the first religion I had studied and been a part of, but I tried really hard to learn, to make the changes I needed to be "worthy", and to find the answers to the questions that were holding me back.... and then someone I have the utmost respect for said something to me that really resonated inside me "If it was right for you, you wouldn't be questioning it. Why do you want to be a part of something you know you can't live? You've been trying to be who everyone else wants or expects you to be for years. Stop trying to fit in. You know more and you know deep down inside this is not who you are." And she was right....
This set me on a new journey, one that had me researching and reading about Tibetan Buddhism. A lot of people don't understand that Buddhism is not a religion, it's a way of life. They do not pray or try to get something from Buddha. Nor do they bow down to Buddha, he is simply a person who has been awakened, nothing more or less. The point of Buddhism is to JUST SEE that is all. It teaches you to live consciously. It teaches that our dissatisfaction originates in us. It offers us a means to experience enlightenment or freedom of mind. Focus on being present rather than insisting what the future must be. It teaches Buddhist precepts not rules like most religions teach. It's a process, an awareness, an openness, a spirit of inquiry- not a belief system, or even a religion as we normally understand it.
Buddhism is not a belief system. It's about examining the world clearly and carefully, about testing everything and every idea. It's about knowing rather than believing or hoping or wishing. It's also about not being afraid to examine anything and everything, including our own personal agendas.
"Don't believe me because you see me as your teacher," he said. "Don't believe me because others do. And don't believe anything because you've read it in a book, either. Don't put your faith in reports, or tradition, or hearsay, or authority of religious leaders or texts. Don't rely on mere logic, or influence, or appearance, or speculation. " Buddha
The message is always examine and SEE for yourself. This is ME.... and when I finally started to allow myself to just be who I am, my brain began to clear. When I started to pray to the Big Guy upstairs with this calmness in my heart and head.... it calmed my soul. When I started to meditate again.... like I used to before I took a different path of learning.... I knew I was home.
There are so many of my beliefs that the majority of the people in my life don't "get" or don't even know about, because when I try to explain people tend to look at me like I'm CRAZY! I've been told I think a lot deeper than most people, that I ask too many questions and I just need to trust and believe, but this isn't me. I've read many books and researched so many different man based religions and I still come back to the same place.... and there I have no questions, just the constant urge inside me to learn more, to live the way I know is right , and to accept and love everyone no matter what their religious beliefs, the color of their skin, or their sexual preference because no matter God will always love them so who am I to judge?
When I started to write this blog post this morning I had no intention to go in to all of this, but as things tend to do with me, it all just came out. I know that the path I'm on right now is to find ME, to get to know ME, and to learn to love ME. I've also learned that one of the best places for me to do all of these things happens to be on a trail in the mountains or as close to water as I can get. There are a lot of people in my life who's feelings have been hurt because I just take off and go alone... but what I can't seem to get them to understand is.... It's not personal. I can't find ME and clear the wordly chaos out of my brain when I have someone with me. I can't talk freely to the Big Guy upstairs when I have someone with me wanting my attention to listen to their issues. I know that may sound a little selfish, but for once in my life I AM the priority. When I disappear or I'm quiet for days.... it's not personal. I'm working on ME. I'm finding the peace inside myself that will show me where I do belong and the path that is meant for me.
We all have our own paths to follow, and this is mine. And for once finding ME doesn't scare me...