How do you see yourself, and does it complete you? Are you connected with your true self?

Hey Guys,

This post isn't the norm I suppose, but I feel like sharing it at this moment in time. It's for anyone who either wishes to get more in touch with who they are, and for those who need a boost into positive thinking and more creativity in life.

I recently came across a new sense of who I am. To me it's the real sense of who I am and have always been and always will be.

This true living state has allowed me to live more freely, although I'm still practicing it, I can already see the huge potential for inner peace and a more joyful life. I'll give credit to the sources which assisted me into this state of thinking and being at the end of my post, but in reality they didn't make me who I am, they more so reminded me and helped me awaken into my true sense of being.

I was thinking about how I could create this post, and how it could help others feel the same joy that I am now. I think the best way is to relate to many issues which come up when working online and in everyday life for most people.

I used to come to the WF or other areas online, produce mass lists of ideas and projects I'd like to pursue, then after a few hours start to think, "I'm not really getting much done, I better start now". Then I'd think of where to start with an idea or project, begin working on it, and then become distracted once again with other ideas and projects.

This would last for hours on end, until I would switch the computer off due to information overload or my head feeling as though it was about to explode.

Whilst the ideas were good, I just couldn't home in on one of them, therefore nothing would get done. This is a very common occurrence when working online, and it's also a very common issue in life outside of work with hobbies and things we wish to do. Our minds are set into thinking that we need to get this done, and we need to get that done, and the whole list has to get ticked off right now. Some people go through their entire lives with this insane outlook and mindset in life. I was going to be another one of them until recently.

There are many eBooks and teachers online who will tell you not to bow down to information overload, they'll teach you about concentrating on one thing at a time. It's good advice, yet it usually only sticks for a certain amount of time with a lot of people. Something more solid should be put in place, something which strips back all this excess baggage and need and want for things.

People will go through their lives thinking about the past, creating anger, frustrations, thinking about the what if's, fear, worry, anxiety, depression. This all comes under negativity.

The same people will also think about the future, this also creates fear, anxiety, pain, conflict, depression, it's negativity.

The real and only truth is that you are here, now in the present moment. If something has happened in the past, it has been and gone, there is nothing you can do about it now. You can never go back to it, in the present moment the past is dead. The same goes for the future, it is an illusion, just as is the past. Nothing that has ever been done or accomplished has ever taken place outside of the now, the present moment you live in. Have you ever been outside this very moment in which you find yourself in? It is not possible.

This is where the change happened for me. Although I had thought about these facts before, I had never truly embraced them and allowed them to be in my thoughts and feelings. It is only when I truly surrendered to the now and present moment that things became clear to me.

As I began concentrating on myself and where I was at that moment, things began to change. When first attempting to live in the present moment and to truly 100% be there, you must first observe your current state of being. A great teacher once said that you must be the observing presence, watch your thoughts, watch your emotions, see the impact they have on your physical body, for example anger forces the body to tense up and contract.

So this is what I did, I observed my thoughts, at first nothing happened as I was waiting for something to happen in a thought process, then I looked deeper at my emotions and the way my body felt. I felt rigid in my back, and all tensed up. I thought maybe I was feeling some anger or resentment to past decisions, then I began thinking about my past and why I'd feel angry or any negativity. I then realized I was judging my thoughts, and reacting to them with resistance. This is when it all clicked for me.

What I'd stumbled across was that I was reacting to something that was no longer present, something which could never be present. Ever heard the statement, "reliving the past"? This was it, and I was allowing past occurrences and conflicts to still have an affect on me. I thought, this is INSANITY! How can I let something which isn't even here affect me and ruin my mood and state of being. When I realized this, the feelings INSTANTLY dissolved, and I felt myself entering a state of bliss and joy, I actually began uncontrollably laughing and my Fiancee got really freaked out, but I couldn't help it. No longer did the past have an affect on me, how can it, it's an illusion. The truth is that the only place you can ever be is where you are now, the only moment you can ever be in is this moment right here, so if you're thinking of any problem which happened to you before or that you are apparently going to face at some time, realize that you do not have this problem right now, so why let it drag you down?

Think of it this way, would you purposely choose to feel negativity? Would you purposely choose to feel anger, depression and anxiety? You wouldn't, the reason it happens is because you are addicted to your thoughts and this false sense of self which your mind has created. However if you live in the present moment you are untouched, the prior feelings of anger, resentment and reaction to all these things will disappear if you surrender to the current moment which is eternity. To let something which isn't real affect you and carry it with you is insanity.

Personally I am still practicing living in the moment, as it has only been a short while. But since that very moment where I realized the past and future have no real meaning as the now is all that there is and all that there ever will be, I have been living in a much clearer, happier, positive, peaceful and joyful state of being.

There are many obstacles which we face that hold us back from living in the moment. By far the biggest one is our mind. Realizing your true self occurs when you realize you are not your mind. From birth being born into this world we live in today we are conditioned into creating this false sense of self. When you begin to think, thoughts such as, "I cannot live with myself being like this any longer", and you really think about those thoughts, take a look at what it means. Is there two of you? The answer is there is one of you, and the other is a false creation of you which has been manifested since you were conditioned by 'the mind'.

We are given a name, a date of birth, we are born in a country, in a planet, in the universe. We then grow up being told what we are from childhood even small statements such as, "your crazy", or, "you should be ashamed of yourself", there are thousands of these statements. Therefore we grow up thinking these thoughts and believing them.

For example my name given to me was Jack Coxill. Now I lived most of my life thinking, I am Jack, I do this and I do that, these are my hobbies, these are my personality traits and weaknesses. But when I got into the presence of now and the true reality of the world, it all hit me and made sense. I am not Jack, I simply AM. I am the presence within me, I am my being, I'm not my mind. People in this world create this false sense of self through their minds and it scares them to leave this false sense of self, their minds won't allow it. The mind will tell you that you'll lose your identity or become nothing if you dis-attach yourself from it, but the truth is that dis-attaching yourself from your mind or from identification with the mind is the only way into the reality of this world, it is the only way into truly knowing yourself and who you are. People convince themselves from childhood that their mind is who they are and it grows stronger and more out of control as the years go on until your true self is hidden underneath so many layers that it is suffocated. Your mind is a tool, it can be used for good positive practical reasons, but only if you realize your true self can this happen.

Everything has a name, everything has been given a label. When in reality, true reality, it doesn't have a name or label it simply is... If you were to ask an animal, "what are you and where are you?" They would reply, I am, and I am here. They don't know they're an animal, they simply are here and accept it.

This post could go on for a long time, many amazing books and videos have been created around realizing your true self. However, the underlying truth of it all stands on its own. To really know yourself, your true self, can only unravel to you if you break this identification with your mind as your apparent real self, and free yourself of illusory time, the past and future, only the now exists, it is all that has ever existed and all there will ever be. You are reading this in the now and it has never changed.

This may sound confusing to many people, others may already be alert on this information, but if you would like to ask any questions feel free to PM me or leave a comment. This post isn't here to create conflict or any upheaval, it's simply here as I felt like sharing what I have been through and how I have enrolled a new sense of my true being into my life.

Some of the sources I have been reading recently have been, The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle and The Art Of Happiness by HH Dalai Lama.

Thanks for reading and your patience...