Need

Up until this evening I would have told you I need x, y, and z to be happy. I "have" to have such and such in order to experience joy. I "need" so and so to be in my life to feel fulfilled.

Tonight I experienced a shift.

Tonight I did some healing and realized, wait a minute, I don't "need" to be in a relationship with someone, I don't "need" an umbrella or a laundry hamper or a job or an apartment to be happy. All those things could vanish tomorrow and my soul, my essence, would remain unchanged. Who I am can never be harmed.

I realized tonight that yes, the things I surround myself with make life cozier but I don't need them. I don't "need" anything except for God. All I need is contained within myself right now, here, in this moment. All that I am, all that I will ever be, is locked in this body. All the rest is just trappings.

My happiness, my joy, my bliss cannot be found in the arms of another person, nor in a new computer or a brand new car. I recognize the people and the objects in my life for what they are: a gift. All of it, all of it, all of it is a gift from God for a short span of time. Everything in my life is a gift.

So no, I don't need a man or new shoes or a job to be happy. All of it is just stuff -- stuff to distract me, stuff to shield me, stuff to make life easier. But it is all transient. People and things will come into my life and they will leave my life. But I remain the same.

No object, no person, no situation will "make" me happy or give me the lasting satisfaction I crave. In yoga we say human beings have a thirst for limitless. What we really crave is pure bliss all the time. We delude ourselves into thinking a certain situation, a certain thing will give us that pure bliss. It won't.

All I need is me. And God. I am all. I am that. I am Him. I am everything. Everything is me.

I envision a world where we as humans don't get entrenched in our belongings, our things, our objects. I envision a world where we all recognize the people and things in our lives are not where happiness can be found, but rather they are gifts. Gifts to be cherished for the short time they are with us but not clutched in our hands like life preservers. I envision a world where everyone recognizes their own divinity. A world where we all recognize our needs and wants are fulfilled at every moment all the time.

I envision a world where we all express our truest most authentic selves. A world where we let our beauty and divinity shine through. A world where objects are merely that: objects. I envision a world where we reach for God and rise above the material things in our lives to grasp onto our inner divinity.

I know not only is another world possible, it's probable.