Creating Inner Peace

Many of us search externally to fill our inner voids. When a difficult time arises in our lives, the first thing most of us do is search for a new ____ (fill in the blank) to "fix" our problems. For some, it's luxury clothing or vacations. For others, it's girlfriends, boyfriends, or lovers. My personal vice of choice has always been cars. To me, there was nothing like a fast and shiny machine to help take the edge off my troubled mind. This addiction to materialism led me to having 10 cars all before my 18th birthday. I know... it was a problem. My mom used to give me an earful every time she'd have to call State Farm to change the insurance policy. I was young, naive, and doing whatever I could do to help inflate my deeply insecure ego.  

This developing habit of searching outside myself for solutions began to effect nearly every area of my life. From swapping cars to swapping girlfriends, I quickly became dependent on changing my environment in order to feel better about myself. My once joyful and care-free personality now seemed to be withdrawn, angry, and chronically uptight. As a confused and unconscious teenager, I couldn't figure out why I was feeling so empty and depressed. All I knew was I hated feeling so disconnected inside. Avoiding these intense negative emotions launched me on an endless chase for the "highs" the external world could offer me. From pornography to drugs, car shopping to sex, all I wanted was to feel better and yet, all these actions did was disconnect me from my higher self. This was an ingrained pattern that kept me numb for years. That is, until I discovered the well-kept secret of Inner Wholeness.

Why is it a secret you ask? That's a very good question. 

Modern society is built by hacking our mind's basic reward system. To put it in simple terms, the brain is wired to always be on the search for pleasure. Anytime we achieve that pleasure, the brain releases reward chemicals all throughout our body that motivate us to pursue that same pleasure again in the future. Advertising agencies are very much aware of this basic human function and they exploit it on a daily basis. We are now advertised to everywhere we look- Youtube, Tv Commercials, Billboards, Radio Ads, Instagram, Facebook... they all use the same system to trick our brain into thinking we need what they're selling in order to be whole and complete individuals. These multi-billion dollar corporations encourage us to buy the newest and greatest version of this and that, promising us that our purchase will make us feel better about ourselves. And it will. Temporarily. Whenever we purchase or achieve that which we think we want, our brain validates that achievement with a natural "high". Meanwhile, as the new buzz of our recent purchase fades away, we are once again made aware of the fact that our souls are suffering. Then off we go on the same old cycle, forever chasing the image of happiness we've been long marketed to believe in. This consumeristic mentality is exactly why we're statistically more miserable as a nation than we've ever been before. We've been brainwashed to believe the secret to our happiness is outside ourselves, when in reality, our doorway to unconditional joy has been right within our grasp all along. 

Ever heard the saying, "Happiness is an Inside Job." This couldn't be more accurate.

We are unhappy because we as a society have become addicted to conditionalhappiness. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on the world meeting our conditions in order to be happy. In today's technology age, we expect our manifestations immediately. We see the new car, we want the new car. We see the new Adidas, we want the new Adidas. And when do we want them? NOW.The smartphone explosion has come with a pretty major consequence. We are made more aware now of what we don't have faster than ever before. The new iPhone 12 comes out and it's predecessor is suddenly made obsolete overnight. We are surrounded by an overwhelming amount of conditions, and if we're not careful, we can loose ourselves in the vast pursuit of those conditions. As if that wasn't enough, we are also force-fed by social media and big entertainment to believe in their concept of perfectionism. The perfect wife or husband. The perfect vacation. The perfect family. The perfect career. Perfect Perfect Perfect.Capture, edit, post, like, subscribe. Little do we know, that image of perfection we're after is impossible. So long as we are living based on this conditional way of being, we will never, ever, be fully satisfied with our lives... we will just be chasing shadows to the next thing and the next thing, forever on a quest to fill an inner emptiness within us. 

Newsflash: That inner emptiness you feel can only be filled by you and you alone. Nothing outside of you can ever fill your inner-void. Trust me on this one. I've tried it all.

What I am about to encourage you to think about will sound a bit strange. It may seem like the opposite of everything you've been taught to believe. Just hang on with me for a minute. All I'm asking you to do is try to keep an open mind. If you can let yourself receive even a little bit of what I'm about to tell you, then maybe, just maybe, you'll begin to feel a little relief from the stress society has you buried under. So, without further delay, let's get to it.

What we are really striving for in life is an emotional state of wholeness and inner-fulfillment. Everything- our dreams, our desires, our goals, are based upon our fundamental craving for joy, love, pleasure, and/or relief. We want something because we think we will feel better in the achieving of that particular thing. Pretty common sense right? Regardless if it's a career, car, lover, or friend, our desires at their core are the pursuit for a better and more complete emotional state. As spiritual beings having this human experience, what we crave most is pure creation, harmony, and uninterrupted inspiration from our real selves. In our success-oriented society, we have been "educated" to believe that success = happiness instead of happiness = success. We have been subconsciously wired backwards. We have rigged our brains to pursue achievement by all means necessary. To sacrifice ourselves and our family, to put in the extra overtime, and to grind away in a box sized cubicle for the small security of a decent retirement package. For what? The eventual promise of relief. (AKA. Pleasure!) 

By learning to make inner wholeness your main objective, all else will begin to shift for you. The trouble is, where do we look to fill ourselves if it's no longer outside of ourselves? 

Cultivating Inner-Wholeness is the learned ability to manually focus your way into a better feeling place. Regardless of your current life situation, wholeness comes when you allow yourself to feel a sense of satisfaction, ease, and clarity. It comes from connecting to your soul and then allowing yourself to flow freely with your soul's divine inspiration. Only you know what that inspiration is for you. It's different for everyone. Inspiration itself is the magnetic pull to any individual passion, hobby, or interest. Whenever you simply allow yourself to go with the flow, and then witness the unfolding manifestation of your desire before you, that is when personal wholeness can be felt through to your bones. Wholeness leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction leads to abundance, freedom, and an increase in overall vitality. It's about learning to turn your attention toward your heart rather than away from it. 

Whenever you honor your emotions instead of running from them, you in essence are granting yourself permission to feel, permission to create, and permission to simply exist. This is a major step toward creating the life of worthiness you deserve- A life of love, clarity, and unconditional joy. To live from a place of wholeness means making the connection to your personal source the main priority in your life. It means your happiness comes first. Period. Whatever ignites your inner fire must be your #1 objective for each day of your life. You'll find filling your own well of joy is actually quite easy once you let go of all your old distractions and numbing tools. Instead of hours of mindless online shopping or social media scrolling, you'll find yourself going for a walk or playing with your dog. It's the little things in life that have the power to unite you with your heart. Don't take them for granted. 

With time and practice, you can begin to find oneness everywhere you look in life. You only have to learn to change your perspective. Instead of habitually noticing what's wrong or missing in your life, you must turn your attention to what's currently going well. When you focus on the "problem" in your life, all you create is more of the problem. This only serves to activate the inner vibration of lack and constriction, making it that much harder to get any positive momentum moving toward your dreams. Learn to find acceptance for what is. Learn to search for your current blessings that surround you. If you take a look around in an open, non-judgmental point of view, you'll see how much pure love you're really surrounded by. So much in the world is going well. The world rotates in perfect orbit around the sun. The trees, plants, and ocean help provide you with the air you're currently breathing now. You have an unlimited supply of food all within a short drive away. You have a roof over your head at night. Life really is going so well for you, you just have to learn to master your point of view.

There will always be more to have. There will always be options. Life is full of choices. Life is full of things to buy, places to travel, and experiences to be had. I'm not saying you should renounce all the physical pleasures this world has to offer. By all means, enjoy the physical world. After all, you're a part of it. All I'm saying is if you can't learn to find satisfaction with where you currently are, all those pleasurable things will eventually feel as empty as dust blowing in the wind. Until you learn to accept and appreciate the is-ness of the present moment, you will only continue to create more unnecessary stress, tension, and drama. This simple shift of perspective from what's "going wrong" to what's "going right" must take place before you can manifest a different reality for yourself. It's the law of attraction at work. Learn to find satisfaction here and now and eventually your outer reality will shift to match your joy-filled inner state. 

Wholeness brings forth momentum and flow. When you let go of your negative, resistant point of view, that's when your inspiration will flourish. Otherwise it's like pulling an anchor to some exotic end destination. Eventually, that destination no matter how promising it may be, will simply not be worth the extreme effort. Trying to take action while at the same time shooting yourself in the foot with a negative mental-state, only sets you up for future failure. You must practice gratitude for the perfection of the present moment. Pulling your attention from resistance-based thinking will produce more inner-peace and in turn, you'll begin to feel more whole and complete. It's all an inner-state. The more you come into contact with the perspective of your soul, the more satisfied and inspired you'll feel. Learn to appreciate what you have while you move toward what you want. That's the hidden secret to wealth and emotional / spiritual abundance. Once you master cultivating a feeling of being truly complete, you're well on your way to manifesting a life of co-creation with your source. A life of being a fully embodied and integrated human being.

All that being said, making this inner shift takes time. You've been programmed by society and your upbringing to search externally for solutions to negative emotions. Be patient with yourself. You can start by noticing just how temporary external achievement really is. The next time you change something in order to alter your mood, notice how quickly the mind searches for something else to hold responsible for fixing your funk. Once you do this a few times, you'll begin to recognize that real wholeness arises from inside your being, not in some external change in your reality. This is where big change starts to take place. 

When you realize you're whole and complete just as you are, that's when life becomes fun to participate in. I've come to believe that depression itself has its roots in being disconnected from one's creative power. In other words, the more someone deny's the impulses from their soul, the more depressed they become. As one who has suffered from depression myself, I can speak first hand about how disempowering it feels to think you're helpless or unable to change your reality. This is the lie we've taught ourselves to believe. In healing depression, one must re-learn just how powerful they really are. That comes from re-connecting with the unlimited potential of one's own essence. When someone who's been depressed suddenly lets go of the burden of "having the world on their shoulders", and instead becomes focused solely on following their own heart, that's when they liberate themselves from suffering.

Living from a place of inner-wholeness, you no longer feel resistance in anything you do. No longer searching outside yourself for validation or fulfillment, you can begin to appreciate the natural process of creating your dreams. In this way, taking action toward your "goals" becomes easy and yes, even exciting. When you have little to no resistance with where you currently are, inspiration just comes naturally to you. You'll find that when you live from a place of complete wholeness, life itself begins to respond to your high vibration of love and satisfaction. It will seem like life itself wants to validate your own inner state of worthiness. Call it synchronicity, call it magic, when you live in a state of pure appreciation for yourself, the world responds by giving you more to appreciate. In other words, the better it gets, the better it gets. You'll find yourself more and more being in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. It will seem as if you're bouncing from one success to the next, all in a state of pure enjoyment and flow. The key is to not cling to any specific results, but rather, savor the creative process of life itself. In living this way, there's no end destination, there's only the pure satisfaction in every step you take, celebrating the milestones along the way. Eventually you'll look back in amazement at the distance you've come, then once again a fresh new desire will be born within you. That is why you came. To be a continuous creator and an expression of source in human form. You have the power of the divine on your side.

Follow this new concept and sooner than you ever thought possible, you'll be living the life you've always dreamed of. It all starts within. It all starts with finding the connection to your own soul. By living in harmony with your heart, life itself becomes worth living, and that's a goal worth having. One day soon you'll be filled with so much joy on a day to day basis that your love will automatically help uplift all those who surround you. That's the true potential of inner wholeness... to be so whole and so complete that ultimately, you end up being a blazing flame for other beings to ignite upon.

You're well on your way. May you never again search externally for the wellspring of your own soul. May you never again fall victim to your external circumstances. You deserve to feel whole, complete, and fulfilled. All it takes is the willingness to get quiet and tune within to the fullness of your own heart.

Much love to you.

~ Austin