I have a new mantra: “I don’t mind.”

 

I developed it as a result of reading two books by Niebauer and by remembering J. Krishnamurti’s comment, “I don’t mind what happens.” 

 

The new mantra means one of two things to me

 

“I don’t allow my mind (left brain) to fret needlessly.”

 

“I don’t mind what others believe.”

 

Although the second one sounds selfish, arrogant, or like a  “get out of jail free” card (absolving me of the perceived need to remain a social justice advocate), it’s the only way I know of to keep from deciding that it’s my responsibility to awaken someone else. If I decide it is my responsibility, I suffer needlessly because I simply cannot awaken anyone  else.  (“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”)

 

Awakening from delusion/illusion is always an inside job!

 

At our essence, everyone is wide awake. It is our individual, negative life experiences that foster our forgetfulness as to who we truly are.

 

Newborn infants have only two instinctive fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Every other fear is trained into us by our cultures.

 

The fear of starvation/abandonment happens when we don’t receive sufficient nourishment (food or loyalty) to quiet our stomachs/minds.

 

The fear of “others” happens because we adopt the fears of our cultures’ caretakers, who all too frequently create fantastical, fanatical stories about people who don’t look or act like they do, and who separate humans from animals, men from women, and cis from trans, in a type of hierarchy that reduces “others” to lesser categories, castes and social classes.

 

Our mind (left brain) appears to be the villain in the story of evolving humanity. It categorizes, judges, and penalizes others based on national boundaries, skin color, religious ritals (or lack of them), and every other thing that can be categorized, judged, and/or penalized. Our left brain is always looking (even without evidence) for disasters to occur!

 

So, by remembering to think “I don’t mind” every time I see anything on Facebook (or elsewhere) that threatens to disquiet my mind, I am able to retain my equilibrium. I no longer feel distressed or immediately threatened.

 

Sometimes it isn’t easy!

 

Whenever I see “Trump could win again”– or the bloodshed in Gaza — or yet another global warming prediction — my amygdala goes into overdrive. So, I’m training myself to think, “I don’t mind (reading this news)” simply as a way to lower the level of incitement that otherwise occurs internally.

 

And then I do one or more things right then and there to reduce the likelihood that the outcomes I dread will not  come to pass.  I will write a blog post, or donate to a campaign, or send a message to my representatives, or do something else to mitigate against the outcomes I don’t want happening.  And then I’m able to “let go and let Love” (undamaged universal consciousness) deliver whatever happens next.

 

The stories we tell ourselves are what creates our futures.

 

Our left brain can deliver life or death.  Its responsibility is to deliver options that it believes (often without any basis in facts) will enhance our longevity and continued existence.

 

When we stop thinking of our left brain red alerts as always being right (they very rarely are), we gain greater access to our right brain, where our universal consciousness is believed to reside within our individual bodies so we can hear its superior wisdom.

 

Universal consciousness is benevolent, compassionate, and intuitive. It can “see” our NOW and into our future nows clearly. It has not been damaged by our human experiences because it isn’t limited to our five senses or to our cultural norms. It doesn’t recognize categories. It doesn’t judge them. It doesn’t penalize anyone. It embraces all matter and energy because it knows “we are all One.”  We are all stardust!

 

And I don’t mind knowing that. In fact, I embrace knowing that.

 

A consciousness far superior to our limited senses and cultures partners with us to return us to the light of all knowing.

 

Our only responsibility is to continue to love and embrace the mystery of it all.

 

And I, for one, definitely do.