The Middle Way

With all that's happening in this world, I know many may feel as though they are suffering, and yet others feel a sense of centeredness that they may have never felt before.

You might ask how that can be? If we are all living in the same world... how can some of us feel as though we might not be able to make it, while others seem so bright and cheery.

I feel like the answer is within, as with all things. Personally, I am not sad, nor suffering... I have no fear of what the future brings because I know that no matter what, I am that I am... and all is as it shall be.

I am that I am...

I am what I think... I am what I focus on... I am what I put my energy into. Life IS what I make of it. MY perception shapes my experiences.

So how does this relate to the middle way... well if you think about all the options of ways to respond or even sometimes react to situations... we always have choices. This or that, left or right, up or down... most times we even have more than just two options to choose from.

Imagine a ball in your hand, with rays shooting out from the center in 360 degrees. Each ray is a different perspective to the experience. Now imagine you area of and know each perspective... you can then grasp how each perspective is just as valid as the others because each ray is necessary in making up the whole of the ball.

Seeing it this way helps in realizing that... every ray is interconnected, no matter how different they might be, they are all apart of the ball.

Now what!?

Well...once I realized this, I was able to see myself clearer... I was able to get that the middle way is in this realization. The way of self awareness, self knowledge. Standing in my center, because that's the only perspective that I will ever know with 100% of my being.

This ties directly into the Ojibwe teachings that all roads shine light and lead to better awareness of each person's own journey.

This moment in history aligns with many native prophecies, where The New People, and the young generations will start asking questions, start seeing, and start listening to all of their relations and realizing we are all connected.

That's what I feel is vital about going back to our elders and learning the traditional ways... those roads are roads that will lift us up and out of this suffering, and back to our center... our inter-connectedness with all of existence.

Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (All Are Related)

We are one part of the whole, but our part is most vital.... Being who we are to the best of our ability. Knowing thyself allows others to know themselves more clearly...its a ripple effect.

But it all begins with the middle way, the drop into the unknown... letting go of fear and knowing I am that I am....and that is exactly what I should be. I couldn't be anything other than myself.

I am reminded of a quote from one of my favorite movies, I Heart Huckabees.... "how am I not myself?