How finding the Deeper Meaning can lead to a more fulfilled life

Thank-you for Re-Posting this article, the timing is very Relevant for me, Much work has been made for me on Letting go, Surrendering to the moment, flowing with what comes and also in distancing myself from Judgment. I have slowly been able to Integrate in my life these ways of being, My sense of Discernment seems tweaked. I have found myself seeing and living life differently, right or wrong are being transcended by seeing the moment as an experience to grow and learn about myself, I am going within more and more.

This has made me feel very relaxed, being much more grateful for the much smaller things we experience and take for granted, I feel like I am riding a wave of gratefulness and Joy of the present moment.

Thank-you for the Guidance <3

Steve

Thank you for posting this article today =). Having such deep realizations through deep poking and prodding into spaces I have hidden from. Then wow! just turning toward it, just feeling it...Who do I need to be? How do I need to appear to be? Who is defending? What "name" am I clearing? Who needs to be understood or heard? Who needs to forgive? What if noone ever gets what you are being? saying? what if the whole world turned and pointed their finger in your face and said you are nothing! Then what? Then who is left to get you, to accept you, to love you - it's all here, right now, right here inside. Crash and crumble, body and mind and I am still here - it doesn't matter what anyone thinks of who I am or what I say and omg it is the most freeing feeling EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it all!!!!!!

And what infinite possibilities may open when one doesn't need to be received a cetain way.

In a humorous, synchonicity, my son put a hockey ball right through a window pane today just above where I lay my head to rest...breakthrough! all over the pillow...no time to rest, who are you really?!!!

AHHHHH!! So incredible!

Love, Jen

.....reading this shortly after I returned to the States from Botswana. The shock of returning to life in the USA, what I hoped with all my mind to be a temporary visit and of short duration, but with all my heart I knew I had to surrender to be whatever was needed and necessary. Conflicted and homesick for Africa, my home of choice, this article was immensely helpful. Now, beginning my 3rd year, and experiencing both rewards and challenges in relationships that have morphed and evolved into divergent paths, this article is both confirming and revealing as new vistas are beginning to appear within me. Thank you for the reposting, Open.

A few days after my Experience of feeling lost, confused and all alone and feeling an Emotional and Spiritual Breakdown.

I want to Thank EVERYONE of you for the support and invaluable guidance with your view points and personal experiences <3....I have realized how I was identifying and attaching to so many concepts, people and beliefs. I feel like a new person, like I have removed a layer, a suit of sorts and that I am one layer closer to finding the real me. 'Open' i have read your sharing many times now and as Margaret said "Your words just hit me in the head and stopped whatever mind processes were running" and as Catherine said "Your words cut like a knife through the density. Like a scalpel excising attachment and identity. Down to the bare bones. Down further. To nothing"

Very straight forward and to the Point Open and i resonate well with this approach, a much needed slap in the face (in a good way) .

<3

Open,

Your words cut like a knife through the density. Like a scalpel excising attachment and identity. Down to the bare bones. Down further. To nothing.

Especially this:

"Can you move beyond the need for anything?
On the path, anything that you cling to will breakdown.
Anything that clings will ultimately break down.
You have to become comfortable in the absoluteness of nothing."

Strangely, the crappier I feel and the more I disintegrate, the more I feel that nothing matters.

Straight shooter you are. Thank you.

x Catherine

"The realisation that it is actually not that much about ‘what I do’ (a job right in the heart of the matrix or a job at the edge of it), but rather about ‘who I am in what I do’"

Your wording just helped, I think this is a good way to be and well explained :)

I did not feel the Openhand approach failed me but rather I failed it...either way with every ones sharings I am realizing to move on and drop this identity while continuing the self awareness :) I am glad to hear of your progress Marye :)

Richard as I was awkwardly making my way through this experience in the last 5 days I realized something you touched on, I started identifying with being this Spiritual person, hence as you say striving to be that identity..Thank-you Richard for sharing that you also felt as you made progress and from more challenges when things did not go as according to plan the Fraud feeling was something you felt, I think the issue is that word 'Plan' there is no 'Plan' thank-you again my Friend.

Open I hear what you are saying and I think intellectually I can relate somewhat but I am just not there yet, I am going to need to sit with this however from what you shared I realize I am getting attached and identifying way too much, Thank-you Open.

Catherine we have connected you and I and you have always made me laff :)and I know just the surface of your health issues and when this happened to me I thought of you and how strong you are and your willingness to fight and continue, I really have great admiration for you <3 I stopped for a moment and did think as u said "So how does it feel to be you right now? And does this still serve you? I was able to do this yesterday a bit but your timing on reminding me is perfect, thank-you for the support :).

Jan Maybe for both of us as you say sharing with each other and other forum members is the beginning of looking for help to make sense of our experiences....I can say one thing that this experience for me has grounded me more and on some level made me more compassionate to others with less judgment, my heart goes out to you with what you are going through <3 and thank-you for taking a moment to share with me <3

Hi Jetster,

Can I share a quote from Terry Pratchett (actually an Atheist)? 'The company of those seeking the truth is infinitely preferable to the company of those who believe they've already found it'. While perhaps slightly distorted I wonder if Pratchett touches on something here. Who needs an answer?

I have felt a fraud in the past, after believing that I had made 'progress' only to be shown that given even more emotive experiences, it all went out the window. But who are you striving to be? Is there an identity who feels that there is an ideal that needs to be met? Give it time dude, it'll come.

You said you feel confused. I've been there. But if you stay with that feeling can you feel something beyond it? Don't try to feel it, just watch.

Best wishes,
Richard

Hi Jetster,

We talk on Facebook a lot and we have a real connection, so I'm comfortable responding in this way to you right now. My heart goes out to you, having had many health crises and physical challenges in my life. Fraud suggests faking it, which I've done plenty of in my lifetime, projecting an image of wonder woman as I was conditioned in my family to do and also in previous lifetimes. I was so disconnected from my emotions and how I truly felt -- vulnerable, overloaded, over-burdened, tired, sad, angry, fearful -- that I didn't even realize I was faking it. In my extensive experience with counselling people with injuries, disabilities, and adverse health conditions, I can say that it is common to feel anger, despair, sadness, depression, and hopelessness when faced with health losses. I applaud that you are not faking it. I applaud your honesty. I applaud that you are brave enough to express how you are feeling. That's your ticket to ride as the Beatles sang, the ticket to journey beyond the emotional blockages and watch them fall away. The only way out is through.

We are so conditioned by society to view our vulnerabilities as weaknesses, so I can relate to how you are judging yourself. Now that I am connecting to how I feel and honouring feeling into and expressing my emotions more and more, I am more fully able to accept that therein lies my path to freedom -- beyond the darkness into the light, like stepping through a doorway. That said, I know it's not easy to fully accept being in fear and anger without judging it and wanting it all to go away. I'm not fully there yet but I am making progress. Gradually I'm becoming okay with sometimes being pissed off, with being tired, with feeling some days that I can't go on, that I've had enough, that I've hit rock bottom. What I'm not doing any longer is denying that I feel this way, and I'm no longer telling myself that I am weak and a failure for feeling this way. I'm sitting with the crap, feeling into it, accepting all my messy emotions and the unconscious conditioning they are revealing to me. Digging into the deeper meaning so I can release the distortions behind my pain. In that sense, my pain and disability are gifts. I might take this statement back on a bad day ha! But that's okay, too. As Trinity said to me not long ago: We get whatever experiences we need to remind ourselves of who we truly are, Absolute Presence in all experiences, identified with none of them.

There are lots of folks in mainstream spirituality who say that anger is bad and that we should focus on the positive instead. I remember years ago standing in a circle with friends pumping our fists and shouting, "I am positive. I am positive." Over and over again. What a bunch of bullshit that was. I wrapped myself up in a bubble of false love and light, failing to realize that how I was truly feeling was always the key to self-realize beyond it. I'm meeting more and more people on spiritual paths who are seeing through this false love and light fakery, who are willing to embrace their darkness to find the light beyond. I'm feeling an energy shift in this regard.

I resonate with Rumi's quote: "Be patient when you sit in the dark. The light is coming." It sounds as though you dodged the bullet of a serious health crisis, so to speak, and that you are now beating yourself up for not being the perfect, enlightened angel in the maelstrom of fear. So how does it feel to be you right now? And does this still serve you? Those are the questions to ask yourself and then feel into whatever you're feeling. I know you know the process. Open mind. Open heart. Open hand. Let go and receive. That's your ticket to ride. It's easy to write about and talk about. Doing it is a whole other matter. I remind myself frequently that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

Wishing you well, Jetster. I'm in your corner.

Much Love to you,

Catherine

Steve - we are sharing your breakdown here the past few days - lost, alone and wondering when the hits will stop coming. Another of our dogs - our family - has lymphoma. This boy has been my loyal, faithful protector since I rescued him, and he rescued me 8 years ago - he is always at my side. And now - gone in a few weeks? HOW can circumstances not matter? This is the question that keeps going around and around in my head.
As with you - none of the 'work' I have done over the years - none of the meditating, reading, inner child, teenager, past lives, entity or any other kind of clearing that has been part of this journey has done any good. It feels like a complete spiritual and close to physical and mental breakdown.
I don't even know where to start looking for help.... maybe it is here with you - sharing the pain.
I hear Open saying - go into the pain - be awesomely okay with it. Maybe one day I will get to that place.... it sure feels a long way off this day.
With love and understanding, Steve.
Jan

Confronted with the possibility of having a serious health issue (which turned out fine) I completely unwound...broke down and lost faith in the ways I believed, I felt jaded, hurt, biter that this was possibly happening, went as far as to speaking to the hand of benevolence (the nine masters)and wanting out of this spiritual way if this was the sacrifice. this was brief just a few days as I got tests done right away. I now feel confused, lost, disappointed , a bit of a fraud...as when push came to shove EVERYTHNG I resonated with so strongly from Open and Openhand , the catalysing tools, the guidance, all the ways to use these I knew, I thought I believed and was slowly integrating them on my journey...all seemed to not matter :(. I have shared many Openhand articles because I thought I resonated with them so strongly, did some meditation from Openhand, read Divinicus and the 5 gateways ( absolutely loved them both) thought I was doing well....then BAM!.. just a complete breakdown :(

I am so confused, I feel lost and alone for the first time on my Journey :(
I have read all the sharings from Marye and all the responses and it has been good, I know there are many Openhander's that come to this forum and provide invaluable feed back from their own personal experiences and knowledge and have been helpful to so many, I would so kindly appreciate anyone providing any input.

Steve

follies is to get stuck in a loop where I try to discern what is ego and what is soul...a dear Openhander recently gave me the rich advice...take attention away from thoughts and focus on the feeling of being alive...then I follow that...it's another way of saying get out of the analytical mind...Love, Jo

Thank-you once again for an invaluable article of pure majestic guidance :)
You so Eloquently are able to express and teach how to Ground oneself, to Re-connect and go deeper in every present Moment :)

Thank you for this tether into the moment. As all was let go of, so much came to this being. Amazes how others find value in this form and care for it even in the abandonment at times. I just arrived back to the "normal" routine that sustains after taking a trip to an island where all was cast away for a brief period. Thrown into the ocean to wash ashore to a warm fire was divine. As I travelled alone per say, goodness was attracted and the experiences that transpired are beyond words. I was taken "under the wings" and flew so freely that the beauty burns ever brighter. It is so real what you say. Finding the deeper meaning really is allowing the simplest to be what is. Splashing in mud through a bamboo forest hiking in the rain so exhilarating. No expectations... Thank you openhand for shining light. Listening to bongos rejoicing in the setting sun over the ocean is simply breathtaking. Its great to know there are others in this dimension allowing it all to come as well. Glorious day!

Thanks for this joyful message, Open, and for the yummier taste of "Now" chocolates. I found myself embracing the deeper meaning this Christmas -- tipping into the magical.