Make Your Life a Work of Heart

“My life didn’t please me, so I created my life.”
― Coco Chanel

You might reach a point in your life when you outgrow your ego.

Or realize that your ego (where there is someone inside your head) is just a thought. Like all other passing thoughts. At that point, you will gain control of your mind. That point will come slowly but hopefully, surely.

You should want that for your life.

After all the fame and the money and the sex and the rock and roll. You should want a tranquil mind. The most elusive and most precious real estate in the world. A mind that is still, alert, and at ease. A satisfied mind that is complete and feels no lack. An alert mind that can see through the cloud of thoughts and not get attached to any. A confident and humble mind. A compassionate mind that loves unconditionally. A creative mind that wants to heal.

You should want to know what that state feels like. You should seek that.

When we are in our 20’s/ 30’s and even 40’s, desire is our driver. She sits inside our mind and controls all that goal setting in our headset. We have a long list of wants and must have’s and can’t do without. Then we rejoice as we get them all. Feel regret for the ones that slip away and then rush after the next flying saucer.

It’s a lot of fun. I wish you the best of luck. I wish you all the joy in your dream-catching adventure. But here is my note of caution.

Don’t identify with any of those bells and whistles. They are not you and they will never complete you. They will just adorn you for a while. They will inflate your ego and quench your thirst for a while. But then the hole will reappear. The ego will become hungry again. She will want to be fed anew. That endless feeding of your ego will eventually drain your energy. You will crave to be free of your desire doll. Because that is what you really finally want. Freedom from slavery to your dissatisfied inner diva.

But if you really want to have fun in life. You have to climb into yourself and find a space where you are totally free. Free of the need to collect. Free of the fear of lack. Free to feel enough. Free to give it up. Free to be full of bliss.

This is the holy ground and has little to do with religion.

We all have this ability but it comes password protected. If you can find that key- you will gain access to the elite club of self-actualized humans. The highest form of human on this planet. Those who are at peace with themselves.

I think Osho knew something about this state of peace and how to get it. Listen to his advice on how to gain this ground.

“What is it that makes you cry? It is only your attachments. What is it that you miss when it is lost? It is the object of your attachment. Ponder over this. Find out what it is that grips your very life, without which you feel miserable and destitute; that is the center of your attachment.

Here is what you should do: make an effort to find out what things it would hurt you to lose. Then, before they are lost, open your hands little by little, relax your grip on them. This is the method for conquering attachment. There is bound to be pain, but you must bear it; this is your penance. It is not necessary to renounce anything. It is not that you should leave your wife and run away to the Himalayas. Remain there, where you are, but gradually stop depending on her. There is no need to cause any pain; your wife need not even know it. There is no need to tell her.

Seek out the attachments. Try gradually to live without the things that you now think you cannot live without. Create such a state within yourself that if and when these things are lost, there is not the slightest tremor within you. Then you will have attained victory over these attachments. This can be possible. It has been possible. And if it has happened to even one, it can happen to all.”
― Osho, Bliss: Living beyond happiness and misery

I like the notion of seeking out what we feel attached to and then gradually trying to give them up. This way we gain gradual control over our desires. It’s like being able to put your ego on a leash. It’s like bringing the ego down from your head to sit at your feet. Taming the beast inside us to become a disciple. One that obeys us. One that helps us live a roaring selfless life.

But this kind of desire requires us to make one profound decision.

It’s up to us. We have to make this happen inside us. No guru, god, or drug will give us this power. We have to enslave our own monkey mind.

Osho goes on,

“Understand this first and foremost that you are the center of your existence; nobody else is responsible. No matter how burdensome it feels, but you alone are responsible. If you accept this truth all sorrow will soon disappear. Because once it is clear that I am making this game, how long will it take you to destroy it?”
― Osho, Bliss: Living beyond happiness and misery

Coda:

The work of heart begins when the mind can be turned silent. I write as a meditation to attain this state. It’s my holy grail. It’s my burning desire to carry a detached mind in my body. No matter how hard it is. No matter how futile it sometimes seems. I have felt its power of compassion and its power to heal. And the freedom that comes with it. If you are reading this, you are also a seeker and therefore not alone.

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Previously Published on medium

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