Resistance and Time ~ Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

Whenever we resist something, we suffer. Resistance is the ego judging the present moment. It always has its idea of what it would like life to be. When it is otherwise, it resists the form that the present moment is presently taking. Some may not realize that it is actually our own thinking that causes resistance and therefore causes our negative emotions. The ego believes that it is other people and circumstances that cause its emotions to change and it is not so. But don't take my word for it. Observe directly to see how the ego operates and generates or perpetuates negative emotion. When thinking is unobserved and we misidentify with its judgments, it is self-inflicted suffering.

When you are feeling unhappy, turn your attention to your thoughts and notice how they are using you. The intensity of your unhappiness will always depend upon the degree of resistance that you are having against what is. This just is not that wise. The present moment is already as it is. Can you accept it just as it is? Is it possible to actually love the mystery of the appearance and truly be free to welcome all that is appearing, free of judgment?

Since the ego needs time in order to function, it will always resist the now. The now is the space within which the present moment is appearing. The more you are able to be the Now rather than the personal reference point of the ego, the less you will suffer. You will suffer less since you have not misidentified the dreaming "I" and its wants and needs. Free of the misidentification, you are also free of all the ego's thinking that causes you to suffer.

Since the ego is always under some sense of threat, it will attempt to control and manipulate whatever is. Of course, that is impossible since it is. That control and manipulation only causes you and others to suffer. We create more pain which will soon become more pain of the past that will be stored in the body for release.

If you observe the ego, you will notice how it is constantly fixated on the past or future, which obscures the Now that is the source of all true happiness and peace. Whatever past pain that you perceive that you have, it will appear as present conditioning, which is why we do not need to heal the past. It will appear in the present moment as your reaction to the present moment. Likewise, the ego is always attempting to use the present moment to get something in the future. This creates anxiety, worry and other negative emotions. Those desires are also based on past conditioning.

If you are interested in creating no more pain for yourself and others, stand free of time and you will see that you do not accumulate more time and therefore more suffering. The present moment is virtually all that you have. Are you missing it? It is the only true representation of Life as it truly is and the only doorway to presence.

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Surrender, Resistance and Conflict by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Questioner: I want to share something that happened the day after Friday's Satsang. I had quite the day on Saturday. i was in the coaching seminar and the discussion was around our "inner saboteurs" Various people were sharing and I decided to share my feelings. I mentioned quite simply that I found that having/being invested in an "I identity" importance of "my Story" was the major detriment in my life and that allowing the possibility of being "nobody" was liberating.

A woman on the otherside of the room declared that this made no sense and was off topic, the group leader said few people and only "enlightened" masters can "achieve" such a state and moved on before I could finish.

This didn't feel right and the woman next to me felt this and we were sharing notes about this. Another woman across the room said we were distracting her by writing notes to each other.

I thanked her for noticing and said that there was an issue unresolved and I confronted the leader about not honoring the gift I was sharing and that his view on being truly who we are wasn't based upon an impossibility.

At this point the room went wild with intense energy and a woman panicked and said things were out of control and picked up her belongs and left and then other women went to console her.

For an hour there was chaos and it was directed primarily towards me as an agent of provocation. I sat with this energy and spent the rest of the day with a huge feeling in my chest and witnessing the projections in the room and changes in people towards me.

I was exhausted last night and couldn't get out of bed to go to the last day of this "movie"; my body wouldn't let me.

Today I am spending the day in silence, alone, writing and being nobody.

Katie: By now, your day of silence, being alone, writing and being nobody has paid off! Sometimes when we are in deep satsang, the life situation provides the immediate, perfect circumstances to ‘practice’ being only the Heart. Papaji once said that when someone awakens, every “demon” in the universe shows up to call us back to ego.

Only you know for certain whether you were in temptation to energetically react to the situation or in acceptance of what was and then followed by action. Energetically, there is a huge difference between the two. Your opportunity was to accept the situation, first and foremost … free of resistance and judgment. You still may have followed with appropriate action, but the non-resistance is primary. When we judge and resist, we suffer and the situation generally will escalate into more suffering and reaction/resistance from the other. Obviously, your intention was to simply share something useful. Someone reacted and that reaction/resistance was their work. How you receive the reaction is your work and only you can have the clarity of the situation. I know that you are familiar with the principles of surrender … allowing what is. In addition, we need to surrender the ‘I’ since that is prior. When we are truly nobody, there is no one here for reactions to stick to. It is as though you are transparent and rude comments simply pass freely by … perhaps even with a sense of compassion for the ‘other person’ who is identified with ego and therefore living in separation and limitation. Being the power, that is, resting in being, we are impervious to the conditional existence. Our inner space remains open, unprotected and free, regardless of any life circumstance.

In the end, I would also like to point out that the life situation is always a mirror of what is occurring within you. It is a self-projection. When we recognize this, it is our inner work. Trying to fix the mirror is impossible. Like I said at satsang, it is like waking up in the morning and looking in our bathroom mirror and then trying to comb our hair in the mirror. That would be impossible and we just wouldn’t even try. The mirror of the life situation is only a reflection of what is. So we have a willingness to look within to discover if any resistance persists or if there is anything more to surrender.

Stop telling the stories and discover who the storyteller is. Blessings to your work and this amazing journey to the Heart … that you already are.

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org