O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space–were it not that I have bad dreams.”Hamlet, William Shakespeare.
The way the world ‘presents’ to me is a mirror reflecting back to me how I see it. So if I am seeing problems/threats then my construct is that world is place of problems/threats and in need of fixing. Instead if I see the world as a big arena offering me the opportunity to give and contribute I am able to come up with the solutions as and when I need them.
If you perceive problems what comes… but problems
If you perceive opportunities/a chance to give… then even though you may not yet have an answer you know that there is one and so what comes… the solutions.
The view of a world of problems is emphasised to us today by the media, how often do we hear the news of solutions? The situation is exactly the same it is just that I see it in one of two ways and it is up to me whether I see problems or just concentrate on solutions. If I see problems I can change this if I choose by simply changing my attitude, in other words I change ‘the me’ who turns up… and so I contribute to healing/changing the world.
The universe is an inter-dependent ecosystem which works on the basis that living entities put something into the system that is of use to others. Plants produce oxygen which animals need and they in turn produce carbon dioxide which plants need. Every human being has something within them that is valuable and when we contribute ‘this’ to world… we feel vibrant, uplifted and happy. We become ‘the solution’ in a nutshell.
To discover what your gift is: recall those times when you have felt like this. What were you doing? What qualities were you using? These qualities are your contribution to the world, bring these more and more into your daily life. When you do this you will find that those things you have been pursuing begin coming to you.
Consider: we tend to think that if we are not happy it is because something “external” to our self is missing in our life and that if we attain that ‘thing’ we will be happy. So we go out to get that job/car/holiday/partner/ etc. and when we attain it we feel happy… and then we find ourselves once again feeling not quite so happy and that something is missing… Society reinforces this view of the world, that the name of the game is: to work out what it is that is missing and then to go out and get it. Just think of all those adverts promising ‘x’ if you have ‘y’. So, if happiness and fulfilment do not lie in attaining something external to ourselves where does it lie? This requires us to make a 180 degree turn, from ‘my’ happiness being dependent on getting that one thing to it being something that is inherent to me, it is just that I have not yet emerged it into my life as I have not looked within to find it.
Solutions in a nutshell: come back to” who am I?” and “what do I have inside me to bring out?”. “Who is the me behind all these different personas?”
