I caught the following thought stream navigating through my mind: "We are creatures of habits. Thus, when we lack awareness, we identify ourselves with our habits. Every habit (which is a repeated thought, or experience) leads us to those actions we choose to take and to the construction and interpretation of our daily life experiences. With unawareness, we hand our life over to our habits."
Since birth we are witnessing, or participating in conversations, feelings, objects, sounds, and knowledge. We then take all this information and 'catalog' it in our brain. This 'catalog' becomes our "reality". Hence, if we perceive an experience as our reality we tend to also perceive it as the 'truth'. And in the midst of unawareness this learned information, could lead to unnecessary suffering.
For example: picture a very large, squared, heavy, steel box steadily resting on top of four large, black, rubber, circular objects - which sit on the ground. This very large and heavy steel box has the ability to move forward, or backwards via traction and gravity. It comes in different colors and sizes. It also emits sounds and can be maneuvered by humans. One day, as your eyes contemplate one of these objects passing by, you hear someone call out and name this large, steel box: a Car. From that moment you learn that this specific object is known as a Car. This is now one of your habits - which becomes a component of your reality.
By understanding this very important concept; we become aware that our reality is not fixed. And if our reality is changeable, it's also not permanent. Let's look at this other example: what if I told you that when we feel anger; it's actually pain masked by anger? That when we feel anxiety - we are feeling pain masked by anxiety? What if instead of having different feelings, there were only two feeling states: love, or lack of love? What do you think our experiences would be like? Would we suffer a little less? Would you feel more centered and able to cope with any situation knowing that there are only two states - love or the lack of?
Love is one of our most innate needs. And the truth is - underneath pain we find the lack of love; more specifically the lack of self-love. Our deepest desire is to feel loved and to share love. Feeling loved allows us to be the best that we can be. It allows us to believe in the impossible; to attain our dreams! And the most powerful manifestation of self-love is self-acceptance. To accept ourselves today, so we can learn to accept others and experience life with a bit less suffering.
Make Love your number one habit and watch how your life transforms.