Finding Lasting Contentment and Fulfillment in a World of Change

July 20th, 2018

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

The pace of change is hotting up across our planet day by day. If it’s not the system constantly introducing new ways to occupy oneself, new distractions to entertain or enslave, new gadgets and widgets that we simply must have, then there’s The Shift itself, which is pulling at the very bedrock of our reality. To add to the complexity, the soul is constantly looking for new expression and evolved ways of being. So in this cauldron of profound change, how might we find lasting contentment and fulfillment? It’s a tricky balancing act, but there is certainly a way, providing we focus on some key essentials…

The Matrix is Founded on Ancient Light

As many people awaken, there’s the thoroughly understandable desire to abandon the matrix, to pull away from the enslavement of society and its nose-to-the-grindstone compulsion. But the path is not as simple as that. As we awaken we may castigate the matrix, but it only exists at all, and is so successful, because it is founded on some form of truth — an ancient light — a reality construct designed for people to explore karmic attachment based on some form of distortion of truth.

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Even in the matrix itself, you can still find light. Music and entertainment for example, that encourage people to unleash more of themselves; the internet and social media, that connect people on a platform of technology. Crucially, the soul itself is continually looking for ways to express The One, and to deny this, would be to suppress our authentic expression, leading ultimately to frustration and lack of fulfillment.

So in the complex dynamic of the matrix, how do you find true contentment?

Exploring the Sense of Satisfaction

Firstly, lasting contentment doesn’t arise from something we consume or acquire. Although you can gain temporary fulfillment. Take food for example, often people in society eat even though they’re not necessarily hungry. What often fuels the ‘hunger’, is a craving for some sense of satisfaction, or else there’s emotional eating to deaden discomfort with life itself. Think about it, in any given 24 hours, most people don’t actually eat for that long, yet the satisfaction comes from consuming and feeling filled afterwards. Essentially, we’re placating the Pain of Existence. (Here’s more on breaking through that pain).

But this is not true fulfillment, because it depends on the need for something physical to make one feel whole. And mostly, it’s not allowing the soul itself to be fully expressed, rather it is mostly dampened by the effect (the exception would be when we’re consciously eating aligned foods that unleash soul).

Fasting is a highly illuminating way to explore this, because you confront the craving that makes you want to consume, and what happens when you don’t. The craving binds people in emotionally, mentally and physically. But with commitment and persistence, you can relatively straightforwardly break down the cravings — it happens by penetrating deep into the feelings with awareness, challenging the very myth that somehow these feelings must be placated. Essentially you transform the feeling into something more aligned. Emptiness becomes the magic of potential for example, or a sense of lightness and aliveness.

(Check out this Openhand thread on the power of fasting to bring you alive!)

The Illusion of Physical/Emotional Fulfillment

A good way to challenge the way we enslave ourselves through emotional/physical/mental neediness, is through ongoing intermittent fasting, where you fast for up to 18 hours every day. It gives the body time to regenerate internally, but essentially, it also gives you the chance to confront cravings and break them down by bringing full awareness into them. Remember, these cravings are not just about the idea of needing physical sustenance, but also simply being fulfilled and satisfied emotionally, physically and mentally — they are illusions!

This kind of physical/emotional ‘fulfillment’ is only a fleeting shadow of the real thing, because it depends on some physical condition, and the One in you, requires no such condition for it to be fulfilled. How can The One in you never be completely fulfilled, when all things happen and transpire within it?

Here is a major clue then to true and lasting fulfillment: it doesn’t happen by feeding craving, but it most certainly does when we strip away all that gets in the way of the pure presence of The One. In fact any need of craving become powerful doorways to the One — you just have to confront and soften into them, rather than placating them. What you start to find, is that as you burst the myth of what you thought you needed, the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction starts to build of its own accord.

Full Attentiveness to the Moment

Take boredom for example. People constantly do things so as to avoid boredom. But boredom is only lack of full attentiveness to the moment. The condition of boredom depends on ones unconscious adherence to a falsehood — that of existence of linear time, and then an enslavement by it. How can you be truly bored, if you’re fully engaged in the one moment of now, where all time ceases?

I do a great deal of travelling with the Openhand work, which means a lot of long haul flights. But rather than trying to distract myself through the flights with movies and entertainment, most of the time I’ll meditate through them, exploring deep into my feelings, breaking down time itself, and constantly penetrating into the one moment of now. 13 hour flights disappear in a flash!

So for me, fulfillment comes not by what I consume into my consciousness, but actually by taking things out. In fact what I find, is that the more I empty out, the more fulfilled I become.

Crucially what happens, is you tend to find joy and fulfillment in the simple things of life, because you’re intimately engaged in the moment…

The Soul is Yearning to Express

But that’s not the end of the story. The complication is that the soul yearns to express. And especially where the soul is strongly expressive, if there’s some kind of denial or suppression of it, then you’ll struggle to find true contentment.

The soul is creative, passionate, loving and caring. And these kinds of qualities will simply arise from the condition of the One within you. Take a look at the Universe, and nature all around you: is it not constantly expressing itself? And to deny the incredible Shift that is taking place all around us, would be to deny the essential story of life itself.

The soul brings into being the manifestation of the One’s creative expression. Put simply, you are here to create and express on behalf of the One. So you’ll naturally be drawn into creative expressions — hence the kind of work you find yourself drawn to. Thus the matrix is built on creating ever new adaptations and evolutions. The problem comes, when the soul gets owned by what it is trying to create — in other words, where ego crystallises around what we’re creating.

Essential Balance

Here’s where we need to find an essential balance: to be engaged in creative action, yes; to be deeply passionate about what we do in life, yes; to commit, with persistence and perseverance, but crucially, to be soft and open enough not to be attached to any particular outcome. This in itself is a highly illuminating and enlightening practice — it’s constantly walking the blade edge of life: in it, but not of it.

If you practice this level of Enlightenment, what you ultimately find, is that it becomes not about the result or outcome of the expressive act, but rather the expression itself. You create, write, paint, sing, dance, write blogs and vlogs, but you do it simply for the sake of it, not for the outcome. It does require a great deal of inner attentiveness, to unpack and unravel the tightness of attachment. But as you work at it, you discover another essential truth…

That contentment and fulfillment in the flowing action of the soul, becomes about the growth and emergence of soul itself. The reason this becomes so fulfilling, is because there’s constantly the possibility to express soul, and to constantly align soul — to evolve it.

5 Steps to a Constant state of Being Filled Up!

Change of self then is another crucial aspect to fulfillment. Yes, it’s a paradox: accepting the perfection of yourself as you are right now, but from that, accepting the challenge that you can find an even more evolved way of being and expressing. The key to this balancing act, is recognising that you don’t evolve the soul by efforting, but rather through attentiveness and alertness. As you bring increasing awareness to your creative expression, you will naturally find ways of unleashing more aligned soul.

So, to put it succinctly then, true contentment arises by surrendering into the One, which tends to happen not when you fill up, but empty out. From that place, lasting fulfillment happens by constantly bringing attentiveness and alertness to your creative expression in life and allowing that to evolve naturally.

In conclusion, here are five key considerations that lead to a content yet fulfilled life…

Find true contentment more by what you confront inwardly and take away
Allow yourself to fully express
Commit to creativity, but constantly let go of the need for an outcome
Bring full attentiveness and alertness to the moment
Accept the perfection of who you are, yet constantly evolve more aligned expression

You find yourself in a constant state of being filled up!

In loving support,

Open

PS: Openhand leads worldwide courses supporting contentment and fulfillment through the emergence of soul. Discover more: Openhand Events Program

About the author:

Openhand is a unique approach to spiritual evolution: integrating enlightened wisdom of spiritual masters through the ages, it is a way of tapping into the Benevolent Guiding Consciousness of the Universe and aligning with it in your life. It helps you unveil your True Self, remove karmic blockages and unfold your Divine Destiny. It leads to authentic, resilient and truly successful living.

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