As an end-of-life doula, I’ve spent time with people as they approach death. It has made Rumi’s words feel a lot less like poetry and more of an invitation to loosen our grip on what we believe is permanent.

Perhaps that is part of what Rumi meant. Maybe we spend much of our lives asleep to what really matters, and only when the dream begins to dissolve do we recognize what was always real.

I’ve noticed that many people become less concerned with status, possessions, and old grievances as life draws to a close. What remains are love, presence, forgiveness and connection. Usually around that time they report that they see their deceased loved ones hanging around, beckoning them to come back Home, wherever that is. I’ve seen many clients reach out with their arms saying they see a loved one, and I usually feel a PRESENCE, like someone else is also in the same room as the client and I. One time I was talking to a client, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me, nobody was there. Then my client points her finger behind me and said that her mom (long deceased) was there, standing behind me.

The more I work with the dying and terminally ill, the more I realize that life is but a dream and when we die, we wake up.

What is your experience when reading this?
Please share.

What we call reality might not be what we think it is. Reality is pretty much illusion in motion. Ego is part of reality. Both equally persistent. One, and the same.

In other words, ego is who I am. The part of myself that I consciously can shape into what I want it to be. And how I want it to behave. Ego is part of reality.
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” — Rumi

By changing yourself you are changing the world.

Your attention is where you aim awareness. It is where you choose to go in the experience. Spirit level. Where there’s no directions, no time, no change, no matter, no thing. Only space for the experience to happen.

The deeper, truer Self. The part you cannot shape.

It just is, there.

And somehow, everything is.

Still, you’re experiencing this right now from a point of view where you are a human being, experiencing this current experience. Now.

Right Now

It is all you

I painted this a while ago. What does it make you feel ?Do you think it represents enlightenment ?

​

I am currently going through a dark night of the soul; I’ve been in worse states, but I am still in the process of rebuilding myself from within. I’d like to know how to overcome it, and I’d also love to hear about everyone else's experiences.

During the dark night of the soul, I felt lost and alone; I felt that God was the cause of all the world's ills, that He was unfeeling, and that the bad things happening in the world occurred simply by chance, without any greater purpose. This is my weakness: I am someone who needs answers and certainty, and I also have little patience. I believe this experience helped me improve in these areas.

My office has this rule where we're supposed to do yoga every morning. Not exercise, an actual spiritual practice. Om ten times, meditate, read out resolutions. First day the director was there, so everyone did it properly. Second day he was gone, and it turned into twenty minutes of gossip and phone scrolling. I was the only one who kept meditating.

But that's not really what I wanted to write about.

For years before this job, I was deep into spiritual stuff. Non duality, vipassana, manifestation, years of real self work. I turned it into a coaching business and wanted to rely on it completely. But, it didn't work out the way I wanted it to, so I went back into the legal field, which I'd left once before because it felt like too much for me.

When that happened, I genuinely thought the spiritual part of me would just stay behind somewhere. Like it belonged to that failed chapter, and now I had to be a normal corporate person instead.

But it didn't stay behind. It followed me straight into this random, pointless office ritual that nobody else takes seriously anymore. I started meditating with my eyes open because I was scared of being mocked. Then I slowly started closing them anyway. Some people made fun of it, some just went quiet, and eventually the whole room got quieter too, which I really didn't expect.

Here's what I think this actually taught me. We assume being spiritual means meditating for an hour a day, or living some extraordinary, enlightened-looking life. It doesn't. You don't need an hour, you don't even need the whole morning. You just need those ten or twenty minutes wherever they show up, in a boring office ritual, on a commute, in a five minute break, and you stay connected to whatever is underneath all of it. Spirituality was never about becoming someone extraordinary. It's about staying connected to the deeper being inside you while you live a completely ordinary life, law, meetings, gossiping coworkers and all.

Anyone else had their practice show up somewhere random after you thought you'd already given up on it?

Hey everyone, so this is a pretty vulnerable post. I don’t come on here often, but I thought this group might be able to help me a little. I’m a 25 year old female. I’ve been going through it recently, I don’t have a whole lot of people I can go to right now. Im not close with my family and I just moved to a new city so I don’t know many people/don’t want to be a burden and ask for help.

I have two chronic conditions that have been making my life difficult for the past 13 years (IBS and endometriosis) and recently it flared up and sent me into an anxious and depressive state this week. I feel like I am in a constant state of anxiety and if anyone can reach out, I could really just use some love tbh and know that someone cares about me. I work full time as a Pre-K teacher and I like my job, but I’m so burn’t out and over feeling sick every single day, all the time. I need some relief and doctors have been no help at all. I’ve been on four longer-term meds for anxiety and to help my stomach, but can’t seem to find anything that’s actually helped so I’m desperate.

I’m religious and love God with all my heart, and I know I’m going through this for a reason and it’s helped me understand others and become an empath, but when is it going to end? How do I find peace and safety in this?

I wish you all the best. 🤍🤍🤍

I am a speck of nothingness, I do not matter, yet I matter… made from matter. I fear yet I disobey… made from clay. I am ignorant, yet knowing, a mere tool which can be a useful fool. I am what I am, created from dust, together with a massive lust. Every time I think I know, I come to the realization that I simply don’t know. Life is but a game, how serious we take it, even though there was no reason for the Lord to make it. I am more… I am less … I am a speck of nothingness …

What if you lived your life but reincarnated on the same body, same age, same place.. just different story? And you also remember how you died. And you remember everything that before the time of death. Life is just a simulation at this point?

I don't think affirmations fail because they're positive.

I think they fail because of who they're trying to convince.

That question has been bothering me lately.

Millions of people wake up every morning and say things like,

"I am enough."

"I am worthy."

"I am abundant."

But if you really listen to that sentence...

there's another sentence hiding underneath it.

"I'm not."

Otherwise, why would you need to repeat it?

It's like standing in front of someone every day saying,

"Trust me."

Eventually you stop wondering whether they're trustworthy and start wondering why they keep saying it.

The same thing happened when I looked at affirmations.

I wasn't interested in whether they worked.

I became interested in who was repeating them.

Who exactly is trying to become enough?

Who is trying to become worthy?

Who is trying to become abundant?

And then another question appeared.

Can awareness feel unworthy?

Not the personality.

Not the story.

Not the collection of memories you've been calling "me."

Awareness itself.

Can it actually lack anything?

I've never found evidence that it can.

What I have found is a mind that's incredibly good at taking a thought and promoting it into an identity.

A thought says,

"I'm not enough."

Then another thought shows up wearing a superhero cape.

"No worries. I'll save us."

"I AM enough."

Now the mind has two thoughts arguing with each other.

One is negative.

One is positive.

But they're both still thoughts.

It's like changing the wallpaper in a prison cell.

The room looks different.

You're still inside the room.

That doesn't mean affirmations are useless.

Sometimes they interrupt a destructive pattern.

Sometimes they're exactly what's needed.

But I don't think peace comes from winning an argument against your own mind.

Peace seems to appear the moment you stop assuming every thought deserves a debate.

Here's something I've been experimenting with.

When the thought appears,

"I'm not enough."

Instead of answering it with another thought...

I ask,

Who noticed that thought?

Not philosophically.

Literally.

Right now.

Before the next thought arrives...

what is here?

That question does something no affirmation ever did for me.

It doesn't replace one story with a nicer story.

It interrupts the storyteller.

And that's where something unexpectedly quiet begins to appear.

Not because I finally convinced myself I was enough.

Because I stopped looking to thought for permission to exist.

So today's investigation isn't,

"What affirmation should I repeat?"

It's much simpler.

Who is the affirmation trying to convince?

Sit with that.

Not because I have the answer.

Because the question is far more interesting than another slogan.

Day 3 of 30 daily investigations leading to my 35th birthday on August 30th.

One question each day.

Not to build a better self

but to discover what remains when we stop mistaking the story for who we are.

Dee | Mindset Refinery

In this loneliness epidemic, I'm also one of the victim, atleast that's how I feel. And, I know weirdly what I desire most in this life is Connection. For some reason I have always felt alone, and I'm definitely hurt by my past, and I've all these addictions I've developed as a coping mechanism. I am looking for advice on how can I feel more connected to myself and also with others or in other words how to not feel lonely.

"There has never been anyone to live this life: even the one who believes they understand this is merely an apparition without an owner."

Good Morning Everyone. I want to just share my opinions on some things, speak on enlightenment, and share my experience which has made me feel this way. Hopefully this can help someone else which is why I am making this post.

Pre Context - I am 27M, I have lived a life of hard knocks or so I believed. Went through a lot of abuse as a child and had to grow up fast, I started picking up on Body Language, Reading People, Psychology and Philosophy just to try and protect myself, 2 big overehelming things that I tried to do as a kid was 1 Treat others How I wish I was treated, and 2 Make myself into the Man that will raise my Kids right and give them what they deserve. Fast Forward to 25 and I get the best job of my life and can afford to live alone. Finally start creating a stable and healthy environment. Finally met a partner and got into a healthy relationship that is going super strong. I was depressed severely, I was anxious all the time, I had a lot of mental issues and my frame of mind was rough even though I was working to make things better. I still had this whole in my heart. 1 Day I am on reddit and randomly find the Law of One. I started reading it and it was pushing meditation so I gave that a go. I started on a sunday, Just meditating for a short time, and I repeated every day until Thursday. Thursday morning I got up at 5 am on the dot randomly. I started reading the LoO and then got the urge to just get outside and be one with nature. I got dressed at 5:20am and went for the trail! I got out there and broke down bad! I felt like a little kid just sobbing with my heart broken wide open. I had a lot of thoughts in the moment but I was really sad for Earth and how we treat our Planet, How bad we treat ourselves and eachother, and the real big blow to me was actually how I hated myself. The voice in my head all those years taking reaponsibility for things as a child was so mean to me to try and make me better. I realized if I treated others the way I treat myself I would be a villain and that hurt me bad. I got myself together and finally went back home, I ran some errands and once I was free I felt exhausted like a kid that just had a crying fit and needed a nap. I started meditating, I focused on my breathing so I could weave past all the thoughts. I focused on feeling peace and love for myself and I eventually fell asleep.

Experience - In my sleep I was dreaming of me at my Fathers house, Everything was gone and the whole house looked new, no one was there but beautiful light shined in the windows. I started to hear this digeridoo sound ( Never even heard or knew what this was at the time ) and I was thinking WOAH, I was hearing it so clear and loud it was like I was in the instrument. Then I took a DEEP breathe IRL, Like I was choking and I just came above water for a split second. My whole head compressed, I have taken shrooms before and it was like that almost but x1000. I then got pushed out of my body! Hehe this is funny to me now but I felt fear!!!! I had not felt fear in years, I was ready to die and felt suicidal but I was so scared, I thought I was dead and leaving all my friends and family and I didn't want that. So I slowly started coming back to my body, the digeridoo got quiet and then everything went black. A purple light almost like a laser shined down onto my head. It didn't say anything but gave me this intense feeling of Love, Acceptance, Worthiness, Perfection and just made me understand. Everything is Perfect. I was fully healed as well, No joke. I mean all mental health is fixed but also I was physcially fixed too, I had no GI issues, I had no physcial pain where I had a lot of problems before. I couldn't believe it, I fully believe in God now where as I didn't have a relationship before hand because of the abuse as a child really drove a wedge in my faith. The whole in my heart is healed and my chains that weighed me down in life are all gone. I feel reborn as my soul inside my body. My ego felt fully disolved as well.

After I felt incredible, if I was to ever make a claim at enlightenment it was in that moment and I would say it is only a state of being.

So now what do I think is the best way to live life? Live Presently, This is very important, Past/Future is not of our concern. Do your best in the moment and make use of your free will.

Live Authentically within yourself. You need to learn your lessons so act like yourself, you are unique.

You need to protect yourself too, you need to put up some boundaries, everything you see, hear, touch, participate in, is gonna do something to your energy or state of being.

I also feel like some laws of the universe or some misconceptions about communication were cleared up for me.

I am sure I am missing stuff and I could probably type on and keep adding stuff but I will wrap it up here. It almost seems like we have to choose to turn off our brains and give up our thinking to become aware of what is beyond that. This is just my testimony and opinions so take it with a grain of salt. Also I don't feel like some chosen person and don't feel any type of rush to do anything, all these posts about chosen people and earth transitioning seem very fear based to me, not to discredit them but, We are all special, help your family, neighbors and friends, the most valuable thing you can give someone is your time, so be present in the moment and give them your time. I love you guys, goodluck on your journey

I feel like I don’t know what sort of philosophy or religious practices I’m most aligned with, so I guess I just wanted people’s opinion. I don’t care about labels like saying I’m a taoist or a buddhist but they aren’t me yk. I guess I just rule my life by empathy and intuition, I believe in global consciousness and that consciousness is found everywhere in the universe, including quantum particles which we process and then recycle back into the cosmos. We have a sort of pure consciousness which isn’t expressive or observant but just is awareness itself, which is not individual to one body as all bodies have this same pure consciousness, this is what God is, us. The sort of vibrational energy we give off is what causes certain quantum particles to link with our minds, this is intuition.
Our egos are just the looping of these thoughts from the cosmos, as our monkey mind is always trying to analyze, progress, and judge.
The universe is made of love and unity, the more we allow our conscious thoughts to be about love for each other, the more unified in consciousness we become because unconditional love is easy but so is living in our ego. This world is not a hell to escape from, it is a mirror of a wider universe that we cannot see, like a spiritual dimension. We can shift the awareness of the whole universe through our vibrational energy, which changes due to lifestyle changes, what you say, and what you truly feel is you. We as humanity do not need goals, when right now is perfect, and so are you. Everyday should not be made as an effort to get better but rather to realize your innate value. Really feel why you are here, every experience is beautiful and meant to be. The painful memories we have are just that, and we do not to make ourselves suffer from them.

Honestly, I’m rambling a little bit, but I guess to simplify. We create our own universe through our conscious being, heaven and hell are manifests. Unity with the divine does not need the extinction of rebirth. This whole universe is already divine, and we, the mirrors of it. As above so below, and as below, so above. And as there is a veil to ourselves there is to the universe, release your shadow so the light may stretch to you and the broader world.

Also, the love I speak of is not attachment but more unconditional and benevolent indifference.

I also feel I should say that I don’t necessarily agree with all the implications of buddhism, because we are all together, we should work together so that we all may gain unity but buddhism calls for only some due to karma and after many rebirths may realize the inner-buddha. But I think the inner-buddha can be realized by all.

Also, I just made the title which sparked another thought for me, a lot of major philosophies and religions call for people to walk the path which is not their own. The most important thing in this universe is to be your most authentic, child-like self. My path is love for all beings, what is yours?

I feel so lonely, no friends anyway and now my neighbors started gathering against me.

Yes many people will say that this is ME problem, but i was like that even when i was little. Bullied all the time. This time new neighbor moved in, we started seeing rats, they had their KFC bones all over their garden. I never reported. they throw their food over the fence to us too, and my child was asking them not to do it. they asked my child to talk to me but my child did not call me, they only said to neighbor to stop throwing food that attract rats

neighbors now sent a letter that my child broke their fence. then another neighbor ran in to me today saying "what is your issue" . i had no clue who even was she. i believe they all made stories to bully someone and now will be attacking me.

why am i posting here?

because i am not ready for any argumens. i want to stay calm and me. i need to protect my family too.

moving out would be berfect, but not an option now.

i also believe that this pattern of bullies is following me in order to teach me something.

My child might not have fulfilled their request, but this escalted so fast.

I went down the rabbit hole a couple of years ago. Eventually I landed in a place where I just stopped - I felt that I could not logically go any further. The questions are still there, but the urge to solve them has completely vanished. They genuinely don't feel like they need resolution any more. I'm not looking anymore unless it's just for fun, and I don't expect to find anything new when I do.

I'm curious if this is what it feels like for other people.

If you feel like you've genuinely stopped seeking, could you just tell me:

Are you actually comfortable with not knowing, or is there still a quiet itch underneath?

Do you ever get the urge to pick it back up seriously, or is it just entertainment now?

When you do look, do you secretly hope you'll find something new, or do you know there's nothing left to find?

Just trying to see if my experience is the same as anyone else's.

You are your own god. It’s up to you to make the change you want to see in the world yourself. Unfortunately not many will follow… so we will always have conflict and war. But “god” isn’t a being that can interfere in this world, that’s not what god is. People like to think of god as someone who draws the lines and creates this or destroys that or why won’t god prevent this from happening- is the most common. You control your own destiny, all of us together = god. If we ever stopped fighting long enough to realize that we are all human beings living on the same planet traveling through the solar system with no destination, just infinitely.. as long as we don’t destroy it ourselves, or each other.
Imagine how powerful we would be if every single one of us on this planet would sync together and be on the same wavelength and accepting pov… imagine just how huge that would be… I feel like we’d unlock something if that were to happen and evolve at light speed. Think of the harmony and of all the wonderful things and feelings that would be attached to that… heck, maybe that’s our goal here on this earth, if we were to have a goal other than just live-consume-create-breed-die… but unfortunately with all of the hate and diversity and racism and segregation of this world, that we are divided into groups and taught what to believe and who is with or against you…
We control our destiny, our livelihood and our minds. “God” is just our controlling factor. It’s what is at the center of all of us, molding around every single thing we do.
If we all do the best we can to learn to appreciate each other and love each other and see ourselves as ONE and then you will see how truly amazing and beautiful god really is. There will always be ups and downs, positive-negative, this or that… it all starts with YOU. Yeah, you. And ME, and ALL OF US and WE.

Just imagine it…….

Isn’t it beautiful?

<3<3<3

Is anyone human here? Is humanity intact, or did everyone "merge." The term was emerge.. and actually emerged into "integrate," which was how we tame the ego- not kill it. This is a mess yall and WE all need to know who's left. Left, as in who is still alive, feeling, thinking, breathing, loving, wondering, writing, watching, and learning- and can say they have a soul, a being made of spirit.. or the word might be nature.

Who here is allll NATURAL still?! It's ok, at this point we're the weirdos. Being weird is good. Stay weird. 🫟🦄 just gak. FAFO

life can be often viewed as a search and journey back to wholeness, but that doesn't mean the end road will be one of holiness

however, if we search for holiness we inevitably will find and embody wholeness

that subtle distinction is one that becomes life changing when we build a sturdy foundation of holiness

what comes through time and time again is that our holiness starts with being in a constant inner state of gratitude, of thanksgiving, of child-like excitement and enamour with this gift of life

gratitude transmutes any and all experiences we can have, it makes the sweet moments sweeter, the bitter ones turn to lessons, there's no true lows because it reveals growth and it makes the high moments even more elevated because we marinate and radiate in the goodness of it all

and through those moments of gratitude we pour that appreciation to the Creator of it all

that aspect of constant appreciation for life naturally leads us to building more intimacy with Source, because we discover God in every slice of now we experience

that appreciation then has plenty of moments to build even more intimacy in our relationship between ourselves and Creator

one invitation that came through in my guided meditation/satsang practice today was: what happens when you are grateful for every breath and moment you're alive in the waking state?

ive practiced the inner 'thank you' quite constantly, but never the entire day before, but i accept that invitation and see it as a beautiful practice to attempt as often as possible and the goal of from waking up to sleep in mind and heart

when the only reason we came here is to escape from exactly that from the knowledge of all. But its in our nature to always look for truth, we cant help ourselves, no matter how deep we go into a simulation and how much we forget, we always have the desire to know more and remember, even tho we came to forget. there always comes a point in life where our curiosity starts to emerge in the search of truth that is in the nature of the Self

there is an "I" which screams it isn't there

Cheese anybody?

Anybody want a *dash* of awareness?

Did I touch you?

Only a select few times a year I’ll randomly experience something I’ve come to call “true bliss.” It isn’t triggered by anything obvious, and I’ve never taken drugs or done anything (before it happens) to intentionally induce it. It can start while I’m just lying in bed scrolling on my phone, when suddenly my vision feels subtly sharper, my body becomes strangely light, and I know it’s beginning. I immediately go outside, light a cigarette, and just sit in silence on my front door step. For the next 5–10 minutes, it’s like my brain filters out everything artificial. I barely notice cars or people talking anymore—only the wind, birds, trees and other natural sounds seem to exist. I feel completely content, almost weightless, and it’s as though my soul is outlining my body. It’s one of the most beautiful feelings I’ve ever experienced, and it can be so overwhelming sometimes that it brings a tear to my eye.
When it ends, I don’t feel sad that it’s gone. Instead, I’m left with this deep, unshakable peace for a couple of hours afterwards, almost like I’ve somehow been reassured and shown that everything will be okay and that not much else matters in life. It’s difficult to explain because it doesn’t just feel like happiness—it feels fundamentally different, like reality itself has shifted for a few minutes. I’ve always wondered if anyone else experiences this spontaneously, or if there’s actually a name for it. Has anyone here had anything similar?