If you are overweight and have tried to go on a diet, more than likely you have heard the phrase: It is not a diet - it is a lifestyle change.
As clich as that phrase may be, it is extremely accurate. Buddhism is not necessarily a religion; it should be viewed as more of a way of life. Consider it a more complicated form of Aesop fables. Buddhism is a guide by which to live. It is a way to simplify your life and realize who you truly are. Here is how I view religion and all names and terms relating to religion. Imagine this: would Buddha call himself a Buddhist? He would laugh to himself. He is in fact, a seeker of Truth.
1) The Ego
Freud had a theory about the Ego, and Buddhism has another. The two have nothing in common with each other except the name. In Buddhism, the Ego is the illusion that you are an individual in this world. You say the word I without knowing who I is.
The Ego is the piece of you that is constantly looking at the clock and timing things. The Ego is what keeps you from attaining awakening, or a higher sense of self. This is what you have to get rid of if you truly want to know who you are.
2) Who Are You?
Did you ever drag out your old yearbook? I have been known to take mine out on occasion. I look at the person starting back at me and I remember all of the things that I wanted to do and wanted to be.
I wanted to be a lawyer and a mother. I wanted to live in an apartment in the city and eventually settle in the country. I remember wanting to explore my slight artistic talent, and I also remember wanting to meet Prince Charming.
There are often a number of things we want to be when we are young, but once we grow up, life and routine complicate matters. Bills intrude into our daydreams and having children turn us into staid parents instead of fun adults. Do you truly remember what you wanted? Do you have everything you wanted? Who are you?
3) Getting to Who You Are
You can find who you are and achieve your own awakening. To begin with, write down all of the things you used to want to do. It does not matter how silly they are! If you wanted to be a rodeo clown, write it down.
If you wanted to be the president, write that down. Take a look at your list. In that list you will see all of the personalities that lie within your one body. You will see the silliness and the business person. You will see everything you are, and everything you could be.
Next, take a look at your current life. Do you like where you are? I have a friend who went to college and became a teacher. I once asked her why she wanted to become a teacher.
Her answer was this: I am not sure. I guess because my mother is one.
I knew that her career was doomed to failure, and sure enough, a few years later, she quit teaching. She did what was expected of her instead of what she wanted to do, all because she could not figure out exactly what she wanted.
What do you want? Is it achievable? Some believe that almost everything is achievable as long as you are willing to focus yourself on your task and work hard to get it. Before you can get what you want, you have to know what you want. You need to know the type of person you want to be.
4) Devil or Angel?
Another friend of mine, Renee, used to be a very sweet woman. She was the first person to make another feel comfortable, and would do everything she could for you.
One day, I realized that the sweet Renee I always knew was gone, and an always-mad Renee had taken her place. It turns out that Renee was in a relationship that changed who she was. She achieved her own awakening when she woke up one morning and realized that she was not the person she wanted to be.
She got out of that relationship and got back to being her true self. She liked the old Renee and did not want to change.
Achieving an awakening is possible for everyone, but you cannot expect it to jump out and hit you over the head. You need to work for it and think hard about who you are and what you want out of life. Once you do that, you can achieve a higher sense of self.
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