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Living life from the inside out

Western culture naturally teaches us to look outside ourselves for the solution to any problems, including organisational ones. A Google search with the keywords 'organise your life' will return a cornucopia of products - motivational lectures, personal organisers, filing systems - all geared to put a busy life in some kind of order. But unfortunately there is one thing that cannot be scheduled, compartmentalized, or filed away so easily - you! Outer disorganisation can quite often stem from inner disorganisation, and by removing any inner confusion about your purpose and goals, things start falling into place in your outer life.

When we know what we truly want, this is the very beginning of knowing how to do it. Deep within we are always meaning to stop and catch some space to find out what we want, and we always tell ourselves we will do it when we finish whatever it is we are caught up in at the moment. Sometimes we get caught up in what Tibetan spiritual teacher Sogyal Rinpoche calls 'Western laziness' - "cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time at all to confront the real issues"

Organisation and simplicity go hand in hand. This can either refer to a project you're doing or to life itself. If it is a project, then take some time to differentiate the essentials that need to be done from the 'icing' jobs - the additional (often time consuming) extras that often come out in a first brainstorming session. Narrow your focus on getting the essentials covered, and then you can approach those extra touches with tremendous confidence. It is the exact same with life. If you can apply a similar discrimination to all the things you do, you will be surprised at some of the things you can leave aside. There are many things we keep doing because of some kind obligation, or because out of pride that 'we have to finish it', or some other reason completely unconnected with our own happiness. This also applies to our relationships and habits, which can be a tremendous source of 'inner clutter' if they are there for the wrong reasons. When we can be truly sincere with ourselves and let go of the things which are holding us back, the remainder becomes so much easier to organise!

Learn to listen to the inner voice of intuition. In the West we give far too much importance to the mind, which left to itself will vacillate between one course of action and another. However if we can act from the deepest part of our being, from our sense of inner intuition, we will always be able to take the course of action that makes us happy. How are we able to tell if our decision comes from our soul? "If the message comes from the soul, you will have tremendous conviction that you are doing the right thing." writes meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy. "Also, both success and failure you will take with the same equanimity. While executing a message that you got from within, you will not expect anything in your own way. You will not expect any particular result. No, you will only follow the inner command. If you have this attitude, you will be able to know if a message has come from within. But if you get the message from the mind, then before you even act, hundreds of questions will enter into you. And if the result, according to your vision, is not satisfactory, then you will be disappointed."

As we listen more to the inner voice, our sense of inner discernment increases as to what is right for us and what is not. You begin to recognise bad habits that impact negatively on our ability to structure your day, things that previously your mind would have rationalised as not really mattering. This inner discernment can also be a powerful remedy for that age-old enemy of organisation: procrastination. The tendency to put things off until the last minute is certainly a function of the mind, whereas to live in the heart is to live in the moment and to get things done in the moment.

References:

[1] The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche
[2] My Meditation-Service At The United Nations For 25 Years, by Sri Chinmoy

Photo credit: Ranjit Swanson

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