Going Higher

​A question I get asked often is: I am really trying to remain positive, loving and compassionate but I am surrounded by violent, negative and judgemental people. What can I do?

And my answer is always the same. Committing to being a light worker is not a temporary display of grace subjective to how "good" things are around us. It is rather a dedicated choice we make especially in the most difficult of situations. This choice remains regardless of the many objections that come from the mind.

The Yoga Sutras say that there is a four fold remedy that ensures the success of the aspirant on the spiritual path. Those remedies are:
Maitri: friendliness to those we find easy to love
Karuna: compassion towards those afflicted
Mudita: delight at the good fortune of others and
Upeksa: disregard towards the faults of others

Upeksha is key. When the world around us is chaotic, when the people around us are unable to be their best selves, we make a choice of raising our consciousness even higher. When we are in uplifted states of being, we are unable to judge, condemn, isolate or disconnect from those around us. When we take good care of our wellbeing we become understanding, patient, inclusive and welcoming.

I was driving down a very busy highway one afternoon, and a bird was flying pretty low. My car was fast approaching its fragile body, I carried the terror of hitting it in my heart. A second before getting there, the bird flapped its wings and simply rose higher. And there it was: so simple and yet so clear. All we have to do when the chaos of so many minds around us threaten to kill the delicate fragility of the state of balance, all we have to do is go a little higher.

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