Everyday life can be one of the most wonderful experiences known to humanity; the warm feeling of water over your hands while doing the dishes, the intoxicating smell of coffee or tea in the morning, the delightful sound of children laughing while playing.  Or, depending on our focus, these seemingly wonderful experiences can drive us crazy with negative input, past memories replaying and anxiety of the future.

How do we gauge ourselves, our perception of the world as a whole?  The process is actually very simple;  sit somewhere, anywhere you feel like and close your eyes, listen to the world around you as it takes place.  Do not judge any of your thoughts, let them stream in unobstructed by filters and observe what your focus lies on.

Do the sounds annoy you, are you amused, do you not think of anything, are you just observing?  Use your feelings to discern whether the experience is being registered as positive or negative.  The same process can also be used in a walking form, with your eyes open this time.  Take a short walk or bring little fluffy outside and observe where your focus lies.  Observe how feelings can actually direct your actions, deciding which side of the street you walk on, what direction you go and if you enjoy yourself or not.

Once we identify what we are focusing on the next step is to figure out why those particular emotions are aroused.  What has happened in the past to evoke these feelings, good or bad?  Are we living in the past, the future?  It may help to treat this as a writing exercise and record all of your thoughts for later reflection.

I will use myself as an example, as I am all I really know.  At the present moment I am at a coffee shop.  As I observe the room around me, there is a large orb like sculpture set upon a stand.  It has broken pieces of pottery glued all over it in a decorative pattern.  I am reminded of my grandmother’s garden; she is also very crafty and has many items such as this decorating her urban space, some of which we created together when I was a child.

This memory evokes a plethora of emotions in me.  I am happy and filled with wonder while we create pretty things together.  Shame and sadness are peppered in as I broke some of her ornaments on accident years later.  The choice is mine as to which memory takes center stage and which one fades into the background.  My focus on the present as well as the past drives how my experience plays out now.

Free will is the name of the game here.  There are so many in the world, some of which I observe on a daily basis, that allow themselves to be downtrodden by events of the past or the future.  This really is very unnecessary and a bit saddening to witness.  Our focus drives our emotions, there is NO outside force that makes any of us feel the way we do.  If we are uninspired it is because we are not looking for inspiration.  Life itself is an inspiration, every moment in this dense reality is a sheer miracle.  Then odds of anything happening at all are usually against us, until we focus, try and create the moments we desire.

It is my most sincere wish that the rest of the world wakes up to their proverbial prison being created by their minds and takes the opportunity to enjoy life and rejoice in the moment, in every moment.  Go in peace, Namaste.