12 Aug 6 Things That Hold Us Back From Seeing Ourselves for Who We Really Are

Imagine what would happen if everybody understood that they were divine? Most of us have never even caught a glimpse of this.

We sit to meditate and instead of experiencing blissful oneness we’re bombarded with all the things we don’t want to look at. Particularly our attachment to things being a certain way. Our resistance to what is brings our inner critic to the forefront and weighs down our entire energy body.

We encounter our learned patterns and conditioning which keep us from seeing our authentic selves. We choose to remain on a hamster wheel of limitation even if it means we will never even come close to experiencing our own greatness. Because living small is familiar and comfortable.

These hindrances are Universal, but they don’t have to maintain a death-like grip on our present experience. We can be empowered to relax into who we truly are, and start to witness the nature of oneness unfolding before our eyes.  

1. Attachment

   “Grasping at things can only yield one of two results: Either the thing you are grasping at disappears, or you yourself disappear. It is only a matter of which occurs first.” – Goenka

   Attachment is the opposite of acceptance. When we want things to be a certain way, we become attached physically, mentally and become energetically bound to a certain outcome. When we don’t get the desired outcome it shows up in our energy and in our lives as suffering and discontent.

2. Division

   We think we’re separate. We think that the people around us, the strangers walking in the street, the person who cut us off in traffic, are completely independent from us. That our inner experiences are highly similar seems not to cross our minds as an indicator that perhaps, we’re all in this together. The separation we mentally construct causes pain on a subconscious level. We think that we’re alone, without ever offering ourselves the realization of our essential connection to all that exists.

3. Story

   We’re conditioned to act a certain way, to walk through the world with convention, following the invisible rules, not breaking the cultural taboos so deeply entrenched into all of us.

   We’re told from a young age that we’re too fat, too smart, too slow, not athletic, or that we should always get our way.

   None of us should have to feel constrained by our conditioning. Breaking down the barriers of our stories takes consistently reminding ourselves that the truth is so much deeper than our created limitations.

   By taking a step back and asking if our choices feel aligned with connection, acceptance and true joy we can better see what actions stem from conditioning and which actions stem from our true nature.

4. Resistance

   We resist things that make sense. War, disease, political distress, it makes sense to push against the harsh experiences these events bring upon us and the world. But does that resistance actually serve our souls?

   Can we get further by allowing and choosing love first? Would releasing the inclination to resist the things we don’t like create a deeper experience of peace within us, and thus manifest more peace in the outside world? Only our authentic selves know the answer.

   “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” – Dalai Lama

5. Judgement

   Resistance creates judgement, which creates suffering. When we see something we don’t like, something that triggers a barrier within us, the knee jerk reaction is to jump into judgement. It’s next to impossible to never judge.

   Yet the part of us that is completely pure, the divine light of awareness, doesn’t contain judgement. There is a witness, and there is a judge, and it’s up to us to choose who gets to sit in the driver’s seat.

6. Assumptions

   We assume we know and understand how things are, how the world is, why things are happening externally, why people do what they do. But the truth is until we’ve stepped into the full story, how can we ever know anything?

   Assumptions take us away from the mystery of life, the connection to seeking deeper understanding and growing our empathy muscle. To assume is to rob yourself of the chance to truly know.