Sunyata – Emptiness

Rationally, we all know and understand that not all things in life carry equal weight and importance.  

Yet, when we zoom in – we behave like emotional bin bags – we easily get sidetracked, depending on different life situations. We do that entirely by ourselves to ourselves. Sure, the stimulus comes from the outside, but it’s us who receive it, process it, and act or react upon it.

You think, you believe, you convince yourself that you like something – and that this ‘something’ you like is good for you.

Yet, when we’re not very conscious about the choices we make, most of the things we like are actually not that good for us.

Reflect upon it for a moment. You go crazy after ice-cream, chocolate, cookies, pizzas, burgers, fries. You forget how many hours have passed since you plugged into Netflix. You start popping cannabis gummies day in day out, staying up late at night. You get accustomed behaving in a certain way, staying in a relationship that doesn’t serve anyone well. You go on a spending spree, buying things you don’t really need.

I’m not saying ice-cream is bad, full stop – as long as you’re aware, conscious of your choices, you’re fine. When you manage to do, whatever it is that you do in moderation, it’s ok. But can you? Can you brace yourself from ‘just a bit more, a bit longer, one more bite, one more try, a bit faster’, and say no thanks, I had enough.

What is good for you? How do you know? Have you learned by now, what supports you in life and what not?

All the stories that you accept or create, they dwell and operate inside your head, inside your mind. It’s all in there – already thought of by billions of minds at any given second, over eons of time.

Make sure to differentiate and know what goes in and on inside your mind! Who is thinking those thoughts, what you are thinking about, and above all, what do you do about those thoughts. The way you choose to churn them out. Learn to watch, to hold the pause, to reflect, not to react, to have that conversation with yourself, learn to respond.

There’s all that and there is the void.

Your own void that you keep on feeding with all sorts of information, thoughts, beliefs, hopes that can suddenly come to an end. You know what it feels like, when you lose someone precious in life, and only realize what you’ve had when they’re gone? That moment in life you feel the emptiness that was not there before. At first, the emptiness feels unknown. It was absent for a while – hence you became unaccustomed to what living with emptiness feels like.

Emptiness feels vast, grand, magnificent, scary, unknown, uncomfortable, unpredictable.

Emptiness prefers to remain as it is. A black hole into which all matter disappears, out of which new life is born. The void has to remain void.

Yet, we try our best to fill it up, to cover it up so we can avoid facing the void – we a+void witnessing our own origin.

Try not to continue with endless ‘must fill it up with noise and activities’ – because that hunger never ends. You’ll get sidetracked; your focus will easily get consumed, absorbed by the traffic you continue creating – by yourself. It’s how we forget the reason why we have chosen to come here in the first place.

It’s OK to feel uncomfortable with the unknown.

Empty the mind,
empty your heart,
whatever comes,
let it come,
whatever goes,
let it go.

Don’t try to hold on to anything – in fact – accept that you can’t hold on to anything, not even your life. Life experiences will present you exactly what you need, when you need it in the most perfect, synchronous way. Magic happens every day, be rest assure of that. This is not about being passive; on the contrary, one has to stay constantly aware in order to respond to what life presents and do the best they can. Stay soft, perceptive, attentive, so you can move swiftly. Like the weeping willow’s branches swaying in the wind. Dancing to the music, ever so gracefully, without resistance, yet, filled with stability and inner force. Knowing that your trunk – your spine is solid and your roots – your origin runs deep.

Two beautiful, graceful weeping willows. Its branches drooping over the lake of lilies.

“Be Water, My Friend.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. (Bruce Lee)

History repeats itself; it’s happening all the time, most of it has already happened before – hence, learn to become an observer, a watcher. Learn to step out of the repetitive cycle. Learn to see the life events, people, their intentions for what they are – not for what you want them, like them or even fear them to be.

From that standpoint make a conscious decision of what you want next – based on your needs, wants, heartfelt desires that are supportive of your life journey and don’t harm others. Remain cool like a cucumber. Like a seasoned gambler: ‘you gotta know when to hold’em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run! You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.’ (The Gambler, Kenny Rogers)

My life experiences have brought me here, where I am right now. Your life experiences have brought you here, where you are, right now. Present, switched on, and fully aware. And thus we stand. Here we meet, we share what we can share. Plenty of human experiences, passing thoughts, knowing who we are, heart full of gratitude, peace of mind, soul strength, sense of freedom. One step, one breath, one heartbeat at a time. Fullness and the void. There is more that connects us than what sets us apart. Yes… I do like that thought.  

Everything is as it is – perfect or imperfectly perfect. Including the vast, expanding emptiness that stretches my limited understanding of what it means to be perfectly at peace & free.

Sunyata’

It’s okay to feel uncomfortable with the unknown.

Empty the mind,
empty your heart.
Whatever comes,
let it come.
Whatever goes,
let it go.

“Be Water, My Friend.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.”
-Bruce Lee

Sunyata’

Emptiness – bubble bursts into thin air.
The sound arises from the void,
the self emerges out of the hollow,
The self returns into nothingness.

There is a space in my heart that connects me to emptiness,
to remind me of all that I am and all that I am not.

With that in mind, I begin reclaiming my soul power.
Without it, I am not.
I draw my inspiration out of nothingness.
My love emerges from emptiness.
It comes and goes back to where it begun.

We come on behalf of emptiness,
We disappear on behalf of blankness.
Emptiness occupies the space when we are not yet and no longer here.
Unknowable, unpredictable… I sense the unease.
Beautiful, enriching, soul-nourishing emptiness.
I know you, I honor you, your grandiose emptiness.

Sunyata

Black Magic Pen

The black pen starts to sing,
and I begin to write
a song yet to be sung,
a song unheard by any ears but mine.

Teasing out my thoughts,
it makes me smile.
I never noticed how smooth and graceful is your flow.
Forgive me, I did not know.

The silver pen in blazing fire,
fading my desire.

Sweet are your words,
yet you slack in some actions.
Don’t grumble; be grateful, be humble!
Let go of certain expectations,
loosen up, reset,
and drop your idea of perfection!

Illusion is strong;
The spell is quite binding,
but no earthly attraction could keep me from finding 
the truth you were hiding.

The silver pen in blazing fire,
smoke arises, 
higher, higher!
All-consumed is my desire.

The nib is bent
beyond repair
and the ink that spills no more is spent.
I smile…

Life lessons of a different, peculiar digression
take me on a ride that I willingly take part in—
a side of me I no longer wish to hide;
The wholeness comes with all its parts.

Fleeting memories of a little girl
who once took fancy in a prince’s tale…
It all begins to fade away.
Has this chapter come to its end?

I gaze towards the sky,
the stars so perfectly aligned.
I hear the ocean in my veins,
I feel the coming waves
sweeping me away.

The tide has reached its height;
I can no longer linger, stay behind.
The bond is strong,
the calling of the heart
more powerful than any sound.

I don’t look back towards the shore.
My gaze steadfast towards horizon,
I break the spell.
My breath, my inner fire, my heartbeat.
My dear chaitanya1, unconsumed, pure, free, everlasting.

In my heart, 
I reignite the flame
that keeps me present,
keeps me sane.

On this fateful, cloudy night,
I’m pulling out this stream of thoughts
with my good old black magic guide.

And that’s it for now…
Because no matter which one I choose or when—
black, silver, or white,
purple, yellow, red, or any shades of grey—
it’s all ok, as long as don’t lose my way.


I thank you, I thank you, I thank you!
I thank you for always being here for me.
I thank you for showing me the way
to be and not to be.

1. Chaitanya (Sanskrit: चैतन्य): awareness, consciousness, conscious self, intelligence, or pure consciousness.

Synchronicity

Dolphins

It’s been a few days since I’ve had an inspiration to write something new. Today it came. Thanks to PW 50: ‘What is my relationship with synchronicity and what do I imagine is possible when I bring more awareness to the role it plays in my life?

For me, synchronicity is all about perfect harmony, matching movements, sounds that are totally in tune, aligned frequencies, umami tastes, moments when your heart is open, overflowing with love, joy, and trust. Things happen, I meet people I was supposed to meet, I end up in places I was meant to be timing is impeccable.

Synchronicity is powerful, mesmerizing, it draws in, it attracts. For example, if we all started breathing following the same rhythm we would create a flow and become part of that same flow we created.

Just imagine watching 50 Irish dancers on the stage, tapping their feet at the same time, totally in tune. Or listening to a choir of 30 people singing a song, their voices joint, blended as one. How about the orchestra and all the instruments playing the same beautiful melody?

What about nature?
Watching, listening to the river can be incredibly soothing. All the water is moving towards the same direction, singing the same song, each drop of water is absolutely aligned.

Have you ever watched a flock of birds flying in the sky – or a murmuration of starlings? Hundreds and hundreds of birds flying as one, every single bird perfectly aligned. What an incredible performance!

What about two or more people brainstorming, coming up with great ideas, their frequencies matching, bubbling, in sync with one another, in their thoughts, intentions, working together, being part of the same flow

Synchronicity is all around us – we just need to pause, pay attention, and recognize it.

Take a look at your wonderful body, the movement of your legs and arms as you walk, when you run. It wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t in sync, not in a million years.’

Synchronicity brought me synchronicity itself. How much more in sync could I get?

Working through the 20 PrivateWork prompts has revealed a number of insights. It was a much needed exercise of confirmation. Now that I’m in that flow I want to capture every drop of it. Squeeze it out, here, on a paper, so every time I need to recollect and realign myself, all I need to do is refer to this moment. Come back to these words – to the space that binds these synchronistically infused thoughts. The empty, silent space out of which the flow emerges and carries on. To me, living words are the most beautiful art & science of magic that gets captured in a very special way, but not really captured because it remains free – always.

The words I read carry the powerful fragrance that is strong enough to bring me back to this moment when I digress. We all digress from time to time and that’s ok. We all wobble in life. Life is a challenging affair – we are constantly dealing with thoughts, information, never ending stories upon stories, emotions, we continue storing gigabytes of memory.

As if nature, the most brilliant architect I have ever come across, has engineered this game that seems to have no end, unless you take charge, unless you awaken, become more aware and start working, tirelessly. Until you expand your pause between the stimulus and your response, not allowing to continue reacting – re+acting. Have you ever thought of this word – it’s genius. It holds the meaning of itself – continuously repeating the same old act. We all react – until we don’t.

Instead of reacting, all we need to do is learn to introduce the pause – we have to master the art of expanding the length of the mighty pause, so we can allow the clarity to arrive – we enter the flow and we gain the ability to respond.

Relationship with myself and others is about being in sync with each other. When you’re in sync with your self you can be in sync with anyone. Even when they are not. Therefore it is my responsibility – it starts with me. Responsibilityability to respond. Either I choose to bring harmony, peace of mind to this world or I choose not to. Hence, we all seek activities that help us realign with ourselves – and that’s a good, useful approach. For me it’s swimming, yoga, writing, meditation, dancing, being in nature, listening to particular music, horse riding, churning mugs on a potter’s wheel. For you it can be something else – find out what that is, because it’s more important than you think.

Synchronicity is a state of pure bliss – Ananda – no friction, no fear, no resistance, no control, no doubt. Responding while having trust, complete trust in the way you respond to the stimulus that came your way.

Skillfully, gracefully, with a smile, with an open heart. In sync, in tune, at one, in alignment, in the flow… back to oneness with life, back to the Self. Like a river, like gazillion droplets of water, all flowing towards the Ocean. Like a dancer becoming merging with music. Like your heartbeat, perfectly aligned with yourself, with the universe. Body, mind, and soul, completely in sync.

What an experience – what a beautiful life to be able to live like that. Now that’s what I call a life worth living.

In sync, in harmony, in tune with One Self, hence in sync with everything and everyone else.

Om