YOU ARE BEING LIVED

YOU ARE BEING LIVED BY LIFE!

Don't make 'acceptance' into a goal.
Don't make 'being okay with everything' into a goal.
Don't make 'peace' into a goal, or 'silence',
or 'joy', or 'bliss' or 'calm'.
Or 'enlightenment'.
Or even 'healing'.
Don't make anything into a goal.
A goal is a gaol, a prison.

And if you make something into a goal, that's okay too.
Simply notice the goal-generating mechanism now.
Acknowledge it.
And turn back towards your present experience
with fresh eyes and an innocent, open heart.
Begin again. Here.

If you find acceptance here, wonderful.
If you find non-acceptance here, wonderful.
If you find sadness here, wonderful.
If you find a wild mind, uncomfortable feelings,
a pressure in the head, a heaviness in the heart,
a non-acceptance, a rejection, a frustration,
an urge to 'get rid of',
can you begin there?
Can you flush your experience with warm attention?
Can you drench this moment with awareness, which is love?

And if you can't... can you acknowledge even THAT?
And drench even THAT with awareness?
So that everything is included?
Everything is acknowledged as LIFE?
Everything is fundamentally okay?
Even the parts of you that don't feel okay?

And if this isn't possible, that's okay too.
There's no image to live up to.
No goal to reach.
No gaol to escape.

Fail. Fail well.
And remember...

All your ancestors are holding you now.
And the Earth and all the stars are supporting you.
And our hearts are with you in your struggle.
And you are not alone in this presence, in this moment,
in this sacred space called Here And Now.

You are worthy of Life, drenched in Life, supported by Life, full of Life, illuminated by Life, breathed by Life, adored by Life, lived by Life.

- Jeff Foster