They Don’t Own You

Image by Rosemary

I’ve written often on the topic of dreams and returning to childhood innocence, but I have been feeling like I haven’t really said everything I needed to say. Then recently, when I found a new blog called The Illumined Mind, I read a post that really touched on some things I have been thinking lately.

In his post, the author talks about some things in our lives that hold us back from really achieving the ability to walk the path of our own Dharma, such as everyday tastks, addiction, security, ego, and desire. I couldn’t agree more with this thesis. It is so easy to get caught up in the trap of being satisfied, rather than fulfilled that we allow ourselves to be tricked into thinking we are ok. We create this hole inside of our souls that grows deeper every day that we ignore it, until it is so large that we are consumed by the realization that we are not only unhappy, but we are miserable.

We have to remember that being happy isn’t always a comfortable process and it rarely happens easily. There are lures and traps all over the world that try to bind us to unhappiness. We get caught in the trap of law, of morality, of social normalcy, and of what is commonly accepted. I’m going to say this once:

No One Owns You

You are not tied to any action by more than the strings of your mind that tell you it is wrong or uncomfortable to do anything otherwise. It is very difficult to swim upstream, but it is easy to gaze downstream and see where that path leads.

The law doesn’t own you, your country doesn’t own you, your job doesn’t own you, and your family do not own you. There is no you to be owned, there is simply what must be done and what is being done. When you merge the action of what is done and what must be done, then you will find that you are on the path…you are living your Dharma. Do not be fooled into thinking that you are different or irrational, you are more than that because you do not fear what others will think or say about you.

Become what you know you must become, there is no other way to happiness and there is no other way to enlightenment.

Tags: dharma, enlightenment, happiness