What questions are you asking your self if There’s a road in front of you and it has a fork in it?
One way leads to moments of pleasure with a backdrop of pain, and the other path goes to a place that contains moments of pain resting on a foundation of deep peace, love, and contentment.
Naturally, if you were asked which road you would prefer, without hesitation you’d most likely select the one leading to deep pleasure and serenity.
In fact, this choice truly is before you now and in every waking moment of your life.
Though the decision is not as blatant as a dirt path off to your right and a street lined with gold on your left, the choices you make do lead you down opposite paths that end up in two completely different destinations.
What Questions Are You Asking? how can you make sure that you are on the Roads that leads to future happiness?
The two choices are not gold and dirt, rather the choice is between the ego-mind-personality and our essential self at our core.
The basic difference is that though the ego-mind-personality can be kind and generous, it is basically looking out for the fulfillment of its own pleasure.
Its statement is, “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.”
It seeks to be secure, to have power, and to be liked and admired, and all its actions (and thoughts) spring from these desires.
Ironically, grasping at these intangibles or material desires often leaves the ego-mind unfulfilled and wanting more.
In regards to food or substance, this aspect of ourselves is a bottomless pit, seeking to fulfill its search for never-ending pleasure.
In this area of life, we can see where this quest leads clearly – to a distorted body and very likely, compromised health.
But even those results often do not deter the ego-mind, as it truly believes that it will find fulfillment in the next seductive taste sensation.
In other areas of our life, it’s not always so obvious where following the ego-mind leads us.
For example, the ego-mind can be negative and judgmental and feed us thoughts of doubt and condemnation about ourselves and others—yet we don’t always make the connection between these thoughts and our subsequent behaviors and feelings.
You may notice that you feel depressed or out of sorts and do not even remember yesterday’s resentments or unresolved fears.
When you follow the path of the ego mind, you are destined to arrive at a place of pain, because, by its very nature, the ego mind is misleading you into believing that you are separate, alone, and special (in a negative or positive way).
Fortunately, there is another choice and it is certainly the road less traveled.
It is the conscious decision to follow the essential Self—at our Core.
the guidance of our essential nature
When we follow the guidance of our essential nature, though we certainly still experience the pain and uncertainty of life, at the backdrop is pure peace and a knowing that we are each of us connected with all of life, behind all the chaos, drama of separation and the angst of the self.
Our Core nature is one of unity.
Following the longing of the Core Self—our heart—will always take us to love, goodness, forgiveness, and a place of peace and fulfillment, where all our needs are met.
We are no longer feeling that insatiable craving for something more, but instead become filled with the spaciousness and freedom found in pure, spontaneous gratitude.
how do you on a practical level even know what path you are choosing?
One way is to notice what questions you are asking yourself. The questions of the ego-mind always lead to pain, never to a concrete productive answer, and generally keep you spinning in the question for an endless amount of time, all the while distancing yourself from others and sapping your energy, and generally knocking the wind out of your sail.
what Questions Are You Asking by the ego mind!
Notice how drained asking these questions makes you feel.
The questions of the Core Self—your Essential Nature, on the other hand, lead to a feeling of peace and freedom within.
They boost your energy level and give you strength and hope for the future.
Some examples are:
Notice that even before you find an answer to any of these questions from the second list, just asking them enhances your sense of hope and fulfillment.
You may look at the second list of questions you are asking and wonder why you should be so altruistic when in fact all you really want is just to be happy yourself—to enjoy life.
Perhaps you think that based on your life experience, if you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will, and you’ve got to make your number one priority looking out for yourself.
That may be true, but the secret here is that by identifying with your Core Self—your true Essential Nature—and asking the questions that help you to align with this greater aspect of yourself—you are ultimately destined for greater happiness.
Though the ego-mind wants us to believe that in order to get what we want we need to listen to its suspicious and negative voice, the truth is that it’s by listening to that voice that we end up spiraling down into an abyss of darkness.
The wants and demands and cravings of the ego can truly NEVER be fulfilled so we end up spinning our wheels and feeling desperate, clutching at life greedily.
The only way to truly have what we want...
The only way to truly have what we want is to let go of the grasping and surrender to the Essential Self.
That means taking a break from all our useless questioning about why life is the way it is, why we are the way we are, and just dropping it all.
There is an ocean of forgiveness, love, freedom, peace, and joy that we can jump into at any time.
We need to do this over and over again since as long as we are alive we are going to experience the tugging of both places within.
The great news is that the path we choose becomes a habit and therefore easier to embark on in each new moment.
The beauty of life is that this choice is always there and that it’s there for each one of us equally, regardless of our age, status, nationality, or religion.
So ask yourself now, “Can I drop this story about myself, my character, and my life, and start asking myself questions that take me higher?”
Because we are always moving, and unfortunately, if we’re not soaring higher, we are often sinking lower, letting our energy be drained by the constant nagging of the unfulfilled ego-mind.
So ponder this now, “When will I say yes to all the good that awaits me?”
“How about with the very next breath . . .”
Feel the energy of life rushing to fill you.
Take a deep breath in and say “YES!” – Is it OK that you can’t figure it out?
