The snake is not the problem. The problem is the one troubled by the snake.

What does that mean? Please follow along to see if it becomes clear. The following is an essential step to start the process of integrating the body, mind, and spirit.

The mind, our thoughts, and feelings are not the problems. They only appear to be; the real problem is the one who is troubled by them. Who is this one, do you know?

Once we identify with what the mind says, true or not, we believe in it. Once accepted, it then can influence our life and state of being. Without identification and belief, a thought or feeling cannot change anything in our life or body.

Feelings that arise from identification like anxiety, worry, and fear will be softened or not disrupt your life at all if you do not identify with them. Of course, we can always choose to explore them if we want. However, how many times has your life been turned upside down by something someone did or said only to be gone the next day, without leaving any known lasting impact on your life? What if you had a way to go through these events without feeling upset, stressed, or anxious at that moment, would this interest you? Well, you can if you desire it, so keep reading.

You can use awareness to see this playing out. Do not take my word for it, look, and have direct experience for yourself. You have observed this phenomenon many times in your life. Do you pay attention to this remarkable ability? I hope so because this is such a powerful tool for changing your life, waking up and not continually falling victim to the myriad of meaningless thoughts and feelings that flow throughout your mind and life each day.

Besides, in those times, when you need to explore your feelings or thoughts to gain more clarity about your life, you can do it with a greater understanding—knowing that you are not your emotions or thoughts. Knowing they are a temporary phenomenon, and when you explore them from a more stable place, there is access to a keener intuition and greater clarity.

Remember that whatever form suffering takes in your life, it is observed through awareness. All things, all phenomenons’ that take place in personhood, can be found and seen to come and go. Notice that personhood is not stable. If you do not already recognize this, you only need to look with awareness to see it is true.

This does not mean that you should ignore your pain or not feel it; however, can you feel the freedom that comes from just knowing that you are not your suffering. There is a big difference between feeling your suffering and being your suffering. One feels that it is passing through you, and the other, as if you are stuck in it; it feels hopeless.

When we make a judgment about our pain, and we say, it is not acceptable, or not welcome in our lives, we have identified with it. We are saying it should not be happening and we are resisting what we are experiencing. In that instant, it morphs into suffering. What if we made the opposite decision and said it was okay or welcome, in which case our suffering would end, instantly. Nothing has changed; we still feel the pain, but our experience is altered, and everything feels different.

This is also something that you have had direct experience with before. It is where your perception changed about something or someone, and like magic, your experience changed. You were flying high and crashed, or feeling low, depressed, or sad, and you were lifted higher than you ever thought was possible.

Our actions, feelings, and lives are informed by our ideas, perceptions, and beliefs created through a lifetime of conditioning. When we see this, the opportunity to transcend any challenge in life is possible. Therefore, use the gift of awareness, notice that whatever arises in your life is a way to connect with the truth of who you are, instead of thinking that whatever occurs is who you are, see it for what it is, something temporary. Take your power back from that which has no power to begin with, and live your life with more balance and peace.

Know that through awareness, you can step into the space of the observer and see things more clearly. As you practice this, your life will naturally begin to shift. For many people, this will be a process and will require repetition to break the habit of always believing in what your thoughts tell you. One day you will recognize that this is not a space you step into, that there is nothing to find and nowhere to go.

You can believe this to be true or not, which will keep you stuck where you are, the only way out is through direct experience. I leave it up to you to make your choice. Perhaps you feel intuitively that there has to be something more to life. Or maybe you feel uncomfortable in life sometimes, or all the time, then I encourage you to explore what I have shared here. I urge you to open the door to meeting your True-Self and let go of who you have become, who you THiNK you are.