In life, attitude is everything. The circumstances that have shaped our lives are as unique and individual as our personalities -- no two are the same. Yet our ability to grow as individuals, to evolve into more compassionate, loving and conscious people, depends not on what has happened to us, but on our attitude toward these situations. When faced with hardship, do I lie down or step up? Do I resist, or embrace the situation for growth?
Ultimately there are two attitudes we can take in life: the attitude of a victim, or of a creator.
The victim cannot see beauty, abundance or the inherent perfection of each moment because he has an idea of how things should be, an idea that has inevitably been violated, an idea that is at odds with what is. This inconformity is anger -- anger toward life, toward god -- but it manifests in the victim as a passive, depressive heaviness, inert and seemingly disinterested, appearing more like sadness than anger. It is hatred of self, violence toward self. It is the ultimate rejection of what is: violence toward life.
The only way to break this victimization toward life is by taking the role of the creator. A creator praises their creation; a victim criticizes. A creator lives in appreciation; a victim in complaint, not taking responsibility. These are total opposites. The creator embraces whatever comes its way. It has a yes to everything, and so life is lived in abundance. A victim, on the other hand, is resentful and negative. They cannot see the perfection or the beauty, because they have a rigid idea of how things should look. Shrouded in a cloak of passivity, this is the ultimate rage: it is the rejection of existence, the denial of what is.
Whenever I look at my life with a no, with a better idea of how things should be, I am rejecting life. Because I cannot control, I will not play. I cannot understand, so I will not accept. Such is the obsessive extreme of a fearful intellect; its complications suck all the joy out of life. Consciousness lives in the union of the heart. When you live from the heart, there are no questions. When you are the absolute, the desperate need to understand disappears; it is engulfed by the pregnant joy of pure being. The heart wants for nothing more when it has found love.
How do I transform from victim to creator? By focusing on consciousness, on the silent depths that lie within us all, until I become the mind without thought. Why? There is no why. It just is. It's just to experience being that. When you see your resistance, let go. Remember that when I flow, when I surrender, I am being god. When I am fighting, I'm a resented child who won't take responsibility. Something could be better in this moment... something is unjust... it's not true, because god is everything. God is in everything; you are God within everything, and it's all your creation.
And god is joy.
***
Isha Judd is an internationally renowned spiritual teacher and author; her latest book and movie, "Why Walk When You Can Fly?" explain her system for self-love and the expansion of consciousness. Learn more at www.WhyWalkWhenYouCanFly.com.