There has always been this feeling deep inside of you that life should be happy, that people shouldn’t suffer and that goodness should always triumph. This feeling exists even when life shows up in a completely different way – with suffering, pain and loss. Happiness, peace, love and fulfillment are the basis, the foundation that you have built your hopes and dreams upon – not suffering. This is natural because these lie as the foundation and essence of who you are.
The reality is that you are not always happy and not always peaceful. Actually, you are all over the place. Some days you wake up feeling off, moderately disconnected and mildly agitated. Or you wake up not really looking forward to the responsibilities laid out before you. Maybe on Monday you arise staving off a panic attack. Tuesday you awaken to a favorite song and feel pretty good. Wednesday you get out of bed and stub your toe and utter a few choice words beginning with f and get back into bed. Thursday you get up, go to work, do errands, eat dinner and go to bed. Thursday is the proverbial day you say, “I work hard and then I die”. Friday is different. There is a hope on Friday. Saturday and Sunday might hold some fun; a movie, dinner with friends, time to read or walk. You feel a little excitement, some enthusiasm and some freedom. You love the weekends, the sports, the food and the entertainment. Maybe you work on a craft you love or take a mini vacation.
Underneath it all there is a subtle discontent because that hope of being happy and never suffering – always feeling good – doesn’t happen often enough. The hope isn’t becoming your reality. You do everything you are expected to do. You act responsibly and diligently but end up exhausted. In your exhaustion you can’t sleep. You aren’t alone. Almost a quarter of the world struggles with sleep disorders.
On the deepest level everyone is connected and humanity shares a collective unconsciousness. This collective unconsciousness forms agreements. Your family, community, state, country and world have them. But that collective unconsciousness is filled with fear, false stories, false beliefs and reactive patterns. That collective unconsciousness is fear-based and it is the dominant energy that drives the world and is reflected in your daily experience. Your essential nature as love and its expression as compassion are covered over. The love has become dominated by fear and that doesn’t support your hopes for peace and fulfillment.
You were raised with agreements. Follow the law and you can have your freedom and be part of society. Don’t sin and you can spend eternity in heaven. Act in an acceptable manner and you will be accepted, loved and worthy. Live life within their parameters and that will bring all the rewards. You will receive the house, the car, the job, the money, the relationship, the acceptance and the love, and that will make you fulfilled, peaceful and happy. It is prescribed and very transactional. Do this and you will get that. But in the agreement there is always the implied promise, always the hope, always the suggestion that the sum total of what they have the obligation to deliver is happiness, the end of suffering, the goodness and the triumph. You will thrive. And that doesn’t seem to be happening. You might be getting the house, car, relationship and status but the happiness, the peace, the fulfillment, the enthusiasm, joy and expansion is not being delivered. And then there is the suffering. They are reneging on their agreement. It’s very one-sided.
It is the hope of happiness, the end of suffering and the promise of thriving that sustains you. But as that is not being delivered by your agreements there’s something amiss. You feel that pulsation arising from your heart. You know that love is there. You want to give and receive the compassion that vibrates in your heart. You want that love to dominate your life and you want to express that fully. The play, the game, the agreement is exhausting and you want the chaos to end and peace to replace it. It’s time for a renegotiation of the agreement.
The good news is that you can take charge of your life and find understanding and resolution. You may have been unconsciously functioning within the agreements. Now you can become conscious of what all that fine print promises and what you have unconsciously agreed to. Now you can renegotiate and live mindfully, discovering where your happiness, peace, fulfillment and expansion come from. Now is the time for inner resolution and the empowerment of everything that allows you to thrive and live in an environment dominated by compassion and love.