The secret to a productive life that is free from suffering: have a commitment to action and not an attachment to the outcome.
Commit to Action
- If you purpose in life is more than sitting in awakened consciousness, then you will need to “do stuff”. Commit to taking actions that are in integrity with your life and in alignment with your purpose. Use whatever process of deep analysis and intuition that feels right to you, and once you make a choice then commit to that action and commit fully. Do everything it takes to be integrity and alignment in completing and fulfilling that action.
No Attachment to Outcome
- Do not be attached to any particular desired outcome from taking that action. You have no control over the effect that happens as a result of that action. To believe otherwise creates suffering.
- Suffering is proportional to the distance between the actual outcome and what you were expecting to happen.
- The outcome is the result of a complex system of causality and your action is just one small input. The system is far too complex for you to understand with your analytical mind, your intuitive mind actually does a better job (as long as it’s free from distortions). Indeed the whole universe is a causal input to the system.
Experience Fully, and Let Go
- When the outcome isn’t as expected, stay centered, maintain equanimity. Rest in the knowing that you are aligned in integrity for doing everything within your power by committing to and taking the action. But don’t be disturbed or thrown off center by the outcome, whatever it may be.
- Yes, you will feel emotions like disappointment or anger. Process the emotions, experience the sensations fully, learn what you can. Analyze the data, look at what you could have done differently with new information and hindsight. Then let go and move on. It is now in the past. The quantum probabilities have collapsed and the outcome has been determined. Focus your attention on what action you’re going to take next and commit to that. Don’t suffer based on an outcome in the past that you cannot influence.
Imagine a state of being of committing to intense action in alignment with your highest purpose, while also maintaining open spacious freedom that no matter what happens, no big deal. How freeing does that feel?