Finding Peace and Stability

June 11, 2020 / Tim Custis / Leave a comment

Many believe that God resides outside them, a place they call heaven. People say when I die, I will be with God, or when a loved one has passed, they are now with God. Well, I say that God is within you, within everything you see, feel, and touch. If you are always looking for God outside yourself, you will never know lasting happiness or peace, because it will always come and go. If you pay attention, you will see that nothing in personhood is stable, and I know of only one place to find stability.

It is not until you begin looking within that you will find your true nature; that you will find your True-Self. Start self-inquiry today and find your way back home now, not later, or someday when the body dies. Discover the peace and stability that is always with you.

If you are an atheist or have other beliefs than in a God, you will also find this peace and stability through self-inquiry because when we know ourselves from this fundamental place, we discover the truth.

Begin to reconnect with the heart of consciousness by connecting with your physical heart first. Place your hands on your chest and feel the heart beating. Let go of any thoughts, feelings, or physical sensations that pull your attention away from being with God’s pulse, the Universe, or Divine Creation. Pick the label or word that works for you. Do not allow the mind too step in and distract you. It might say this is too simple, or it will not work, or I do not like this word or label. Watch the subtle way it creates an uncomfortable feeling in the body and all the other ways that it tries to take your attention. Come back to the beating heart and feel the peace that is greater than any distraction the mind can create.

Do this anytime you find yourself in worry, stress, or anxiety, whenever you want to feel the peace and stability of your True-Self. As you begin to experience this, you ground yourself in the present moment and your experience of personhood shifts. You will again remember what you have always known and forgotten. Come back to this simple practice throughout the day, if only for a moment. Anchor in the truth, so the mind’s ability to distract you will be weakened. Discover this through direct experience and not from a place of knowledge. Watch the mind say yes, I know this to be right and then send you in another direction. Do not try to stop the distractions; this is another distraction. Do not identify with them, and then they will have no power over you. The mind will not stop trying to distract you, so let those distractions be an opportunity instead of a problem. Let them be a beacon, the guiding light, your wakeup call back to your True-Self.

“I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I’ve been knocking from the inside.”

― Rumi

In the Beginning

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 / Tim Custis / Leave a comment

Start to pay attention by using your capacity of awareness and notice if you are being led astray by spontaneous and untrue thoughts. Begin to question your thoughts. For example, ask yourself, is this thought true, or am I one-hundred percent sure that this will happen.

Know that everyone who begins on the path of self-discovery, self-inquiry, or the spiritual path, meets resistance from within through their thoughts, emotions, and physical body.

Sometimes this resistance is very subtle, and it requires focused attention to notice its trickery. It is in these subtle yet significant moments that we make a choice. Sometimes this choice is conscious, and sometimes it is not. However, with awareness, we watch. The space that we observe from let’s call it the observer position, for now, feels outside the body/mind.

From this position, we can observe our conscious decisions and see how they unfold. Even when choices are made out of habit, or they arise unconsciously, they can be seen by focusing our attention in awareness. Once seen, conditioning can dissolve, and habitual patterns can fall away.

You have experienced this watching before, we all have, and you may be doing it right now as thoughts come up about what I am saying. On the other hand, you may have noticed it when sitting quietly or out in nature. You discover how endless the stream of thoughts are and watch as they come and go.

It is paramount that you have direct experience of this because it is through direct experience that we open the door to making an essential shift. Otherwise, we will continue along in life living from our conditioning and habits, and never getting the chance to experience true freedom.

Instead, the subtle and dramatic deceptions of the mind and the thoughts that arise from it will keep us stuck. Stuck in a world of falsehood, and all the while, we will believe everything that crosses it to be completely accurate. To follow blindly will only lead to endless worry, fear, anger, and great suffering. Perhaps you already experience this in life. I am here to tell you there is another way, one that leads to greater peace and stability.

Lasting Peace

July 22, 2018 / Tim Custis / Leave a comment

We all face difficulties in life, and no one on this planet avoids them. Whether they are emotional or physical, our environment or circumstances, at some point, we will be faced with challenges. This is not something that we should need convincing of because we have already had trouble in our lives, no matter our age.

Yet somehow, we imagine life should not have obstacles or pain. Therefore, we become upset, embittered or frustrated when something happens that we perceive not to be perfect (the way we wanted). Can you see how this reaction is insane?

So why do we go on believing it is possible and not face the truth, be present with what is, and live in the moment? This is because we think that life should not have any difficulties and that is because of societies idea (conditioning) of perfection, not our own. However, this is not reality, is it?

If you can see this in your own life, then over time you can begin to see the other ways that you are conditioned, and yes, you are conditioned in many ways. Unfortunately, we become lost in our own thoughts created by this conditioning, and this makes it impossible to see without bringing awareness into our life.

To begin the journey of self-discovery and bringing awareness into your life is the way to finding and experiencing lasting peace. One that is perfect, not because difficulties never occur in your life, but one where whatever arises never takes your peace away. You finally understand that you are peaceful in your purest form and no person, experience or event can take it away.