Is the Spiritual Journey Ever Finished? (Live 17 Dec 2022)

Again,

You can only do what you can do and that's why you have to Practice being gentle with yourself you know,

That's why we come back to the breath and Gently remind ourselves That this is a practice.

It's always gonna be a practice It's never gonna be complete.

The journey is never finished No Because we have to be able to really understand That we want to feel complete.

We want to feel like we don't have stuff to do anymore because we want to Progress and progress and then completes and accomplish but actually the joy of even being in touch with our spiritual nature is the fact that it never finishes and And when you come to terms with that and you appreciate that for what it is it's a beautiful thing because There's a sort of pressure that's relieved and lifted off of you when you realize you're never gonna be Perfect in that way where you finish all the work and now you're all done with all the work.

The work is never finished And we can continue going on and on and on feeling You know are there good about that or we can feel kind of rotten about it because It's a choice to choose how you feel about the journey never being finished.

Just like it's a choice to Decide how are you gonna feel in every moment?

You know if you if you want to be finished with the work and not have to do anything else Well,

That's kind of like asking for death because only death Do you finish living this life?

While you're living you always have the opportunity to live and grow and learn new things and discover new aspects of yourself in this world and It's the joy of living always having something to work on So yeah,

It's it's very important to realize that They're very important it's almost like it's It's it's not grounded yet in your being to the point where You feel it and know that it's there and can't be taken away If you choose not to have it taken away when you experience something really new and you're kind of in a new paradigm of reality with yourself You know,

It's still quite new and so you're still forming a solid relationship with it Like when you meet somebody,

You know when you meet someone for the first time you go through all this all these stages of Newness,

You know,

Everything is so new this person.

I'm learning so much about them This sort of thing is happening.

It's discovery discovery discovery and then you know after that sort of honeymoon phase ends You start to deepen your connection And when you start to deepen your connection you are creating something that is perhaps going to last for a while or Maybe it will fade out but in the process of creating that foundation You're forming a relationship that you can find what level of reliability you have with them and So things are starting to become more Stable,

You know when you can lean in them lean into them for support,

You know When you need to hold your own But you form that relationship and you form those important Bonds because we're social creatures and We want to be able to Go through this experience Enjoying other people's company instead of going through it alone all the time because we're already alone in ourselves within ourselves and so there's sometimes a fear because You're experiencing something new and really lovely But you haven't firmly found the place where you can Feel you can rely on that new connection You're still going through you know so many new things and so this is like you're forming the part of Your practice which you can rely upon at any given time and when you become fully You know in touch with that and you realize okay,

This isn't going anywhere because I'm not going anywhere You get out What you put into this practice?

Spirituality is not just something that you can Plug into and then it's all done and set,

You know They set the table for you.

You have to set the table yourself.

You have to light the candle yourself You have to polish the silverware yourself.

You have to make everything the way you want it for yourself And then you're gonna have a more pleasant experience Sitting down to eat because of that energy you've put into setting the table and getting the space prepared So this fear that you're feeling of Of it going away or you going backwards or whatever It's Part of your desire for it not to go away and that's understandable because you're experiencing something wonderful But it's your desire That is gonna hold you back from going to the next step if you let go of your desire and just focus on the presence of Of being here in this relationship with yourself.

That's what's gonna help you transcend into the next chapter into Feeling okay,

You know,

I don't have to be afraid anymore because I know That I'm here and I know that if I'm present with myself,

I'm present with my obstacles and the different challenges in my life I'm not gonna be going backwards.

I'm not going to lose this beautiful Experience I'm having it doesn't happen like that if you're present you're present It doesn't matter whether you fail or or or win If you're present you're gonna be going forward in life because being present Aligns you with what you're destined for what you're destined to be.

And so this is really important for Everybody who's on the spiritual path to understand that Once you're on the spiritual path once you're aware of The fact that there's more than all this physical stuff in life There's more than my own thoughts and my own emotions and physical body Then It's impossible for us to go backwards and fail Because going backwards and failing Is to lose that presence So if you stay present If you continue to strive to be present and show up for yourself every day That's already a win You know a lot of people measure their successes and failures by whether they reached The goal that they had in their mind And so we create all of these goals and landmarks for us to follow These goals and landmarks for us to meet in order for us to feel good or lousy about what's happening,

But actually We need to look beyond that on the spiritual path because the spiritual path is just one step in front of the other It's the journey.

It's falling in love with the journey not the destination It's becoming totally in love with the fact that you are enjoying the process of realizing Your presence is the most important thing that you have.

It's the most Valuable commodity that you have your own presence takes you Everywhere you go.

It opens the doors of everything that you're going to Experience if you don't have that presence,

You're just living in a dream.

You're living Unconsciously you're living out of compulsions and you're not fully present and experiencing the now As it is you're creating all this other stuff that Shapes your experience and you don't even realize it So if you have this fear That's okay But it's something to focus on because it's your desire to be somewhere where you're not yet Where you cannot be That is causing that fear once you realize that Finding the peace finding the stability finding the joy finding the ecstasy Finding all the support that you need to go where you want to go It comes from being present.

It comes from Understanding Understanding that you have desires And that's natural and that's healthy But if you're going to measure Yourself by your desires You're never going to equal What they are You have to always keep a little bit of space From your desires to know that within desire There's the opportunity to flourish As well as be Enslaved by them Of course,

We don't want to be enslaved by our desires.

We want them to be a positive and wonderful Aspect of ourselves and our growth and our journey And to do that You just have to remember that It's not healthy to measure ourselves up against our desires.

Our desires should be like the wind Should be like the wind underneath our wings helping us set sail helping us catch flight and Sparking that flame that flame of desire within us When it becomes this And you know It's there And you can trust that it's there because you're present with it And you know that that fear will dissolve and you'll just be flying