Imagine a person standing with their arms stretched out to both sides. Someone is standing on each side of this person pulling their arms in opposite directions with all their might. This is how most of us live. We’re living in a constant battle between two opposing forces. It’s a state of constant stress — the tension from our mind almost being torn in half. 

On one side is what we crave, pulling us towards it. The other side is what we dislike, that we push away with tremendous effort. There’s also the battle between following our heart and doing what we know to be right for us, and the other side doing what our family or society want us to do.

This reactionary state of being is exhausting and not a fun way to live. This is what the ancient teachers meant when they showed us how our minds are not free. We don’t create our life. We react to it life. We may have a choice between A or B, but we didn’t choose those options.

So is there a third way? A way to break free from being a mouse in a maze, always trying to get the cheese and avoid the electrical shocks? Fortunately, the answer is yes. It is the middle way.

Instead of running around frantically in the maze of life, we can pause. We can sit. We can rest. We can relax. Then, whenever we wish, we can get up and look for some cheese. If we get shocked, that’s okay too because we’re just enjoying the totality of the maze — the journey. It’s no longer the cheese that will bring us happiness, because we’ve already found the peace within us. The shock won’t frighten us because we’re not panicking. We don’t crave the cheese because cheese is not our goal, the joy of searching for it is. We don’t hate the shock either, it’s just part of the awesome maze that sometimes has sweet sweet cheese.

The mind is always in a state of attraction or repulsion, desire or aversion, push or pull. But when we can sit with our pain peacefully, and enjoy pleasures without being consumed by craving, then we are free and everything in life becomes enjoyable

If you ever feel like a mouse in a maze, living with even a subtle level of stress and want to become more peaceful and happy, my free 4-book package, The You-Turn Collection, can help you break free. Now available at www.EastWesticism.org.

Here are some other topics that I covered this week:

How to move forward from painful experiences without carrying our pain the rest of our lives (Watch Here) How to heal the part of you that keeps getting disappointed (Listen Here)

Much love,
Todd

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