It is Friday already, where has this week gone. The days seem so full and there is so much we want to do or accomplish or get through, when does a person just take it easy and enjoy? Who has time for exploring personal interests or work on a self-improvement program? The good news is that effort is not the main ingredient to expanding your capacities, nor is filling you day with more activities.

Sometimes it feels like life is just focused on doing more and having more. Yet neither the doing nor the having is how we tap into the greater unexplored depth of who we are. Rather the process is taking a break from so much doing even if it is for only moments throughout the day. This expansion of who we are is not about acquiring more of us but instead dropping the baggage of old stuck ideas and limiting beliefs we have been carrying around for too long.

Let's explore these ideas of taking a break from doing and leaving the old limits behind. First the human obsession about doing is much more the need of the ego. Slow down, step back once in awhile and just notice what forces within are driving us too hard. Are these forces about enjoying life, about expressing ourselves in creative and energizing ways or are they about looking good, about being in control or having more things?

The outside longings are not important especially compared to the inner desires for meaningfulness and happiness. The easier and more fun path is one of being more fully who we are in whatever we do, work, relationships, leisure time etc. This can be as easy as following whatever brings us into an experience of joy or bliss.

Secondly the old ideas, stories, beliefs, teachings of others, and early decisions about life are not reality and in fact often far from it. These are like walls the mind has built to contain us with the ego as the architect. They serve as protection against the fears of our own mind also as barriers to a greater expression of who we are. These walls appear solid and important but they can change in a moment of insight or awareness. Yes we are the jailor if our minds have become rigid or closed in any way.

The opposite of the jailor role is someone who sets us free. This someone is the wisdom of an inquiring mind and an understanding seeking heart. There are no walls anymore because we have dissolved them into the moment of consciousness. As we expand ourselves, we see more, we feel more, we are open to experiencing and receiving more.

Try these three ideas this weekend:

Imagine an open place like along the ocean or out on the plains, on a ridge, in a ball field, or sitting in the spaciousness of a quiet mind and feel the breeze of life as it flows around you and through you. There are no boundaries.
Sit or walk somewhere free of distraction and become acquainted with yourself. It is best just to kindly observe what you feel, see and experience as avenues into self-awareness.
Do at least several things out of the ordinary for you. Break your morning routine, eat different foods, see a silly movie, do something for the heck of it, or whatever will shake up the familiar.

What do you see about yourself? How do you hold you back? If you felt no discomfort then you might be playing it safe or you may have found a opening to a higher expression of yourself. Remember life is an experiment and a comedy not a scripted drama.

Peace Letter #85

Dear President Obama,

We are not in need of new and better weapons systems, we are in need of new a better ways of communications and compassionate action. What is needed is an evolution of the heart and mind not technology if we want a peaceful world.

Let’s focus our resources not on War but on the human capacities and the hope that generates.

Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.

Join me and send President Obama emails of support and encourage the end of war and the other dysfunctional ways of government at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact