In about the summer of 2008, the Buddha came to me and shared his love and wisdom.
I wrote the following article to share this with you. But first, here's an introduction...
In a very spiritual experience I had once, Buddha came to me unexpectedly one afternoon. Astonished, I felt his presence a couple feet to my right, and as I adjusted to his being there, he explained that his teachings have been changed over time. He said that his original teaching consisted of helping people let go of attachment to OUTCOMES.
That word added at the end of what Buddhists have generally been taught makes all the difference. Although not a Buddhist, I am very interested in the teachings of spiritual masters, and as such, my understanding has been that Buddha taught us that life is suffering, and in order to get out of the cycle of suffering we need to let go of attachments, period.
That word added at the end of what Buddhists have generally been taught makes all the difference. Although not a Buddhist, I am very interested in the teachings of spiritual masters, and as such, my understanding has been that Buddha taught us that life is suffering, and in order to get out of the cycle of suffering we need to let go of attachments, period.
But after communing with Buddha, I realize that he did teach that getting rid of attachments would help, but that was not all. He taught that getting rid of attachment to outcomes was the key. The reason this would help was because over time, things are guaranteed to change. When you realize this, even if things are not going according to plan in the present tense, hold on and don't worry. Things will change. You may even be able to affect some of the change you are looking for--especially if you manage to stay relax, allow the energies of constant flux work in your favor, and realize that time is on your side.
The final word, Outcomes, which had been somehow left out of the teachings handed down, made all the difference. I realized that since life is ephemeral, we can't really hold on to anything anyway, but as we let go of worrying about what we can't control, and realize that it's all in flux anyway--we can calm ourselves and recognize that everything really is in Divine Order...
ZARA ANGEL
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ZARA ANGEL
Click on my website zarasangels.com
For classes and Free Talk info, click on zara-news.blogspot.com
For more articles by ZARA about angels, go to zarasangels.blogspot.com
Join me on Facebook
And also me on MySpace
Follow me on Twitter!
Discovering Happiness
By ZARA ANGEL
As a child, I remember sitting at my school desk one afternoon, realizing that I had come to earth for a special reason I had agreed to before birth. Knowing that my special task involved both serving God and helping people with their lives, I felt determined to make the most of my life by studying hard, paying attention, and learning about God. “Paying attention” meant that since I knew I would have Divine Guidance to learn more about my mission, I would need to make myself open to receive this guidance. This meant that I needed to learn to meditate.
Fortunately, my mother was interested in yoga and meditation, and she taught me much of what she knew. The teachings she shared with me, conscious breathing (pranayama), yoga postures (asanas), a form of meditation called savasana, gave me a good start.
Eventually, as a young adult, I followed the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, (the first Indian swami who brought yogic teachings to this country and stayed here for a prolonged period of time), and after meditating with his techniques for 17 years, I experienced my first taste of Cosmic Consciousness bringing me direct awareness of the Divine.
After this happened, rather than the completely smooth path I somehow expected, life became more challenging than ever before. Things I had previously been oblivious to suddenly showed up as obvious areas that needed “adjustment”. Certain people posing as friends who were really not, needed to be let go of, and I needed to break free and reinvent my life. Doing so required that I travel through unfamiliar territory without a map or anyone to guide me. But though I did not have anyone to guide me here on earth, I did have help from God and the Angels and they helped guide me through meditation, dreams, and visions.
I also started to use the affirmation, “I claim Divine Order in my Life”. When first affirming this mantra, I really didn’t know where it would take me, but I started affirming anyway. Somewhere in the middle of the affirmation I got it. I suddenly realized not only what the affirmation truly meant, but also that I knew it all along. I had simply forgotten…
What I discovered was that everything in my life is and always has been in Divine Order. The difference was that I now consciously understood it, and in that understanding, I started to experience deep Inner Peace. The Inner Peace came from the realization that everything in my life is in the NOW, and everything is working out into exactly the way it needs to. I learned that in order to reap the benefits, I needed to give up resistance, and allow the blessings to flow.
And the blessings did flow. In fact, many personal “problems” that seemed impossible for many years were resolved. Although not every outcome was as I desired, I noticed that many of the negative emotions that had nagged at me before then miraculously disappeared.
Although I use the term “miraculously”, many of the changes that occurred were actually due to my own efforts. In fact, among other things, claiming Divine Order helped me to develop such Inner Peace that I finally found the strength and courage to face several issues and people that I had previously been avoiding, and decided to go ahead and metaphorically “take the bull by the horns”, face my fears, and deal with each and every situation that had previously caused me grief.
Surprisingly, although some of the outcomes were not what I wanted, the act of facing my fears through definitive action was all that was needed for emotional resolution. In other words, I had the power inside me all along, but for a long time, I didn’t realize it. Just as in the story of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz who always had the power to solve her problems, but didn’t know how to access her power, so had to travel along the yellow brick road until she discovered the truth inside her, I had the power as well. I just needed to realize it.
What I learned was that procrastination about effectively dealing with issues brings continued unhappiness, whereas intelligently facing issues head-on with courage, conviction and truthful determination allows one to develop greater, self-respect, integrity and Inner Peace. I learned this as a universal truth that applies to everyone, and that many problems people face can be solved through the act of facing their fears while concurrently letting go of attachment to outcomes.
I came to the understanding that letting go of attachments is an important aspect of finding happiness from an experience I had this year with the Buddha. Not being a Buddhist, I was very surprised when I felt his presence with me earlier this year. As I stood in front of the desk in my bedroom, just getting ready to straighten up some paperwork on the desk, I suddenly became aware that he was standing next to me, and that he wanted to tell me something, so I listened.
“Give up attachment” he said.
To this I replied, “I’ve heard that before and I’ve already tried that, and haven’t been successful. I am very attached to my children, my friends, my way of life, my health, etc.”
He said, “Give up attachment…specifically to OUTCOMES. Give up attachment to outcomes, then you will see.”
These words instantly gave me a new understanding and offered me a significant paradigm shift. I realized he was right. The concept of giving up attachment specifically to outcomes was the part of the formula that had previously remained obscure in my mind, but was now clear.
My next step in the process was to apply this new concept in my life, and find out what would happen next. What I learned was an amazingly simple and logical truth: The one thing we can count on life is that everything is always in a state of flux. That means that whether things are to our liking, or not, it’s always guaranteed to change. So, when things are wonderful, you can enjoy this, but don’t be surprised when changes occur, because they will... And on the other hand, when things are not to your liking, those things will change as well.
What I’ve realized from this is that outcomes do not necessarily determine success and happiness. In fact, early on, when I was still avoiding issues I did so because I was attached to the outcomes, and was afraid that what I wanted might not happen.
The surprising truth I discovered was that even though several outcomes definitely did not go my way, the act of facing my fears regardless of outcomes, resulted in much greater states of inner peace and happiness. I came to realize that things that seem bad are just temporary and may lead to something good.
What I now understand is that by transcending attachment to outcomes, one can see and joyfully experience the perpetual truth that NOW, THIS VERY MOMENT, EVERYTHING TRULY IS IN DIVINE ORDER, and there is no reason ever to become attached to specific outcomes.
The beauty of not being attached to outcomes is that no matter what, things keep changing, so there is no reason to be attached to the way things are at the moment. For instance, one may lose a job, and then get a better one that he or she would never have gotten if their other job had not gone away. Also, one may involuntarily lose a relationship, and as a result, may get into a much happier relationship, which, if the old relationship hadn’t ended, they would probably have missed.
When we lose something we want, we typically become sad or depressed because we imagine that our happiness is either gone or at risk, but the truth is, everyone can remember times in their past when they lost something that temporarily made them sad, and yet because of later events, the sadness went away, and their happiness came back.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to skip the steps of sadness and depression, and instead choose happiness immediately? Can you imagine being so spiritually present as to realize that whatever has changed for the worse could simply be a precursor for something better coming along shortly? That is a very optimistic approach to life, and one that makes sense—because everything is constantly changing, and there is no reason to get attached to the way things are now. THEY MAY GET BETTER!
The fact that each of us can remember times when our happiness turned to sadness, and then later, our sadness turned to happiness, and on and on into the ever-changing NOW offers an important link in understanding the key to spiritual presence and happiness in life. That is, there is no reason to get attached to whatever is happening in the moment, because it’s always changing anyway.
Yes, there are big, important things that happen that can be and are very upsetting. But even those things will change as time goes by. If we realize that fact fully, life becomes much easier, and we come to realize that happiness is a choice, and each of us has the ability, this very moment, to choose happiness.
CHOOSE HAPPINESS NOW!!!
Angel Messenger ZARA will guide you into spiritual and financial prosperity while simultaneously increasing your spiritual awareness. Working directly with Archangel Michael, she also teaches Spiritual Counselor Training, Reiki and Tarot.
To schedule your reading call 425-741-9752 or e-mail zarasangels@gmail.com
Check out ZARA ANGEL's website: zarasangels.com
For classes and Free Talk info, click on zara-news.blogspot.com
For more articles by ZARA about angels, go to zarasangels.blogspot.com
Follow me on Twitter!
Join me on Facebook
And also on MySpace
To schedule your reading call 425-741-9752 or e-mail zarasangels@gmail.com
Check out ZARA ANGEL's website: zarasangels.com
For classes and Free Talk info, click on zara-news.blogspot.com
For more articles by ZARA about angels, go to zarasangels.blogspot.com
Follow me on Twitter!
Join me on Facebook
And also on MySpace
Love Peace Joy
