Are You Willing?

Gina Lake

Are you willing to play the role the Whole has in Mind for you, no matter how big or small? Are you willing to have the experience you are having? Are you willing to see that the experience you are having serves your evolution and, in turn, the evolution of the Whole? What if you surrendered the struggle of making your life turn out a certain way and really experienced the life you are having right now—not the story about your life, but this moment free of that story?

Are you willing to age the way you are aging? Are you willing to have the amount of money you have in your bank account? Are you willing to move if you have to move or stay if you have to stay? Are you willing to be in a relationship if you are in one or not be in a relationship if you aren't? Are you willing to look the way you look? Are you willing to experience pain if that's what you are experiencing? Are you willing to feel lost or bad or confused or whatever you are feeling? Just for now. All we ever have to do is be willing, just for now, to have whatever experience we are having. When we are, the things that seem like a problem stop feeling like a problem, and we are able to experience the beauty and goodness of life.

What if all the things that were happening that you didn't like were okay with you? What would it take for those things to be okay? Isn't it something inside you that decides they aren't okay? What beliefs keep you from letting those things be okay? Does it do any good to decide that those things are not okay?

The thing is, if something isn't okay with us, we feel unhappy. So then we not only have the situation we don't like, but we are also unhappy. We can just have the situation we don't like and still be happy! Acceptance doesn't mean you have to like the situation; it just means you are willing to let it be the way it is for now, if only because you don't want to waste this precious moment being unhappy.

Being unhappy is unnecessary. We can dislike something and still be happy! The willingness to let things be the way they are allows us to relax and just be here in this moment without struggling with, being afraid of, complaining about, or trying to fix something, all of which end up defining our experience of life if we let them. The willingness to let things be the way they are allows us to be in this moment without the sense of having a problem. Being willing to let something we don't like be the way it is allows us to experience what else is going on in this moment besides what we don't like about "our life." That's when we can discover that there are plenty of things about this moment and about life that we do like, that are wonderful, beautiful, and for which we can be grateful. Surprisingly, this state of gratitude and relaxation is the state that solutions and inspiration to act come from to change anything that is meant to be changed.

Are you willing to let your life be the way it is right now? There isn't much of an alternative, really. The only alternative is to complain about it or be angry or unhappy about it, which doesn't change it. If something can't be changed right now, in this moment, then let some other moment take care of it. Are you willing to experience everything that's happening in the moment, not just your ideas, wishes, dreams, fears, doubts, and desires? Experiencing such thoughts instead of real life is what makes us unhappy. There's always enough to be happy about when our attention isn't focused on such thoughts.

The desire for something to be different takes us away from real life and makes us unhappy with life. We think such desires serve us, but they only create and sustain the false self. Essence has deeper drives and intentions that don't lead to the discontentment the ego's desires lead to. Following these deeper drives is only possible if we aren't suffering over the ego's desires. Drop into the moment and discover what Essence intends for you in this moment. Are you willing to have the experience in this moment that Essence is having? In any moment, we can have the experience our ego is having or the experience Essence is having. Are you willing to be at peace?

From Embracing the Now: Finding Peace and Happiness in What Is by Gina Lake. Read more excerpts and find out more about this book by going to http://www.radicalhappiness.com/books