A friend of mine asked me the other day why I haven’t been updating my blog recently. The truth is I discovered the new (or rediscovered the old?) dimension of joy – the joy of simple things and actions.
I always thought that I didn’t like cooking, cleaning, washing up, food shopping etc. I would of course do all of those things but without any pleasure, believing that I was wasting my time in a way, as I could be doing something more enjoyable. I had an office job then and would normally finish around 5pm and chores were the last thing I wanted to do after work! I’d rather go out, practice yoga, meditate, read or surf internet. And so it went up until a few weeks ago.
A few weeks ago I had a deep, what some people call ‘existential’, moment – a moment of understanding and inner knowing. I suddenly realised that all of my desires, related behaviours, striving, trying to grab a bigger piece of the pie were meaningless. Only when I saw the meaninglessness was I able to recognise how deeply affected I was and what an impact they had on my life… negative impact. Before then I believed that I was doing my best on my self-discovery journey. I was deceived so deeply, so subtly, so completely!
So the moment unfolded itself and blessed me with a knowing that all is futile if there’s no love, no beloved by my side. I mean everything – good, bad, things, plans, goals. Everything. The next day I woke up very early, went shopping for groceries, cooked lunch, cleaned up and… enjoyed every moment. Profoundly.
I found myself enjoying simple actions, performing them with love and feeling peaceful. On the other hand, things like surfing internet, posting online, planning, contemplating, etc – things I held meaningful! – became a chore. A lot of those activities weren’t necessary, just something I used to do whenever I had spare time. So I went on enjoying simple things and waiting for an inspiration to write or do – so that I knew it was’t one of the new ‘chore activities’, that it was a real thing, an inspired action.
Yesterday a beautiful synchronicity happened. I started reading a book that I had on my Kindle for months but never quite had a chance to read it. And there it was staring at me from the very first pages:
“Action comes out of a silent mind – it is the most beautiful thing in the world. Activity comes out of a restless mind – it is the ugliest. Action is when it has relevance; activity is irrelevant. Action is moment to moment, spontaneous; activity is loaded with the past. It is not a response to the present moment, rather, it is pouring your restlessness, which you have been carrying from the past, into the present. Action is creative. Activity is destructive – it destroys you, it destroys others.
Try to see the delicate distinction. For example, you are hungry, then you eat – this is action. But you are not hungry, you don’t feel any hunger at all, and still you go on eating – this is activity. This eating is a kind of violence: you destroy food, you crush your teeth together and destroy food; it gives you a little release of your inner restlessness. You are eating not because of hunger, you are simply eating because of an inner need, an urge to be violent.
Relaxation is like flowering, you cannot force it. You have to understand the whole phenomenon – why you are so active, why so much occupation with activity, why you are obsessed with it.”
– Osho ‘Creativity: Unleashing the Forces Within’
I was obsessed with planning and researching, possessed by thoughts and ideas, not even talking about endlessly browsing Facebook or Amazon! I started feeling an inner resistance to go on doing these things without first distinguishing what’s ‘real’ from what’s not. Today I felt it was the time to share and so I do.
Only love is real and only actions that carry a seed of love in them – be it toward yourself or another – can bring us true joy and fulfilment. So I wish you to find your simple joys, to let love flow through your actions, to feel content and peaceful.
Namaste ❤
Enlightened Self-Love 