The Simple Joy of Being in Alignment

I remember when I was a child – how I could so easily and quickly get lost in whatever it was that I was doing. Whether it was coloring, playing piano, playing my Gameboy, or riding my bike down the street in my neighborhood. Even doing homework, or the very rare occasions I did chores as a child – I was able to find peace and contentment and “get in the zone” rather quickly.

It was like nothing else in the world mattered when I did things, and it felt so natural. It wasn’t even a concept or thing that people talked about, and everyone around me had it figured out as well. For all I know I could have written a book similar to Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” when I was 8 years old – in the year 1998, two years before he released that book. It’s too bad I hadn’t quite figured out how to write a novel by then, but I knew how to be present just as well as Eckhart Tolle did, before I was even old enough to own a debit card.

There was something so simple and straightforward about the joy of doing things when I was younger. Before I read any fancy spiritual books or had an enlightened person tell me how I should mirror them to find happiness, it was already something that seemed programmed into my psyche and day to day life.

I’m not exactly sure what happened as I got older, but I lost touch with “The Now”. I began to fall out of alignment with the Present Moment ever so subtly and ever so consistently.

Maybe it was because I was trying to be popular, so I acted like someone I wasn’t to fit in. Maybe it was all the time I spent fabricating an appealing virtual identity on my computer, on my MySpace profile. Maybe it was the music I listened to, especially as I started listening to music with lyrics that were negative and may have subconsciously caused me harm/dysphoria, even though it felt stimulating to listen to.

Whatever the reason – by the time I had graduated college and had a job for a few years I knew that something about my life was so “off” and I couldn’t quite figure out why. I was mildly depressed and tired from work, but so was everybody else. So what was my problem?

That’s when I discovered books like Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now”, and encountered spiritual people who used concepts and the perception of their spiritual success to remind me why I felt so out of alignment.

But it was all good , really, because I was gaining conceptual knowledge and using that knowledge to re-learn what I had known when I was a child. How to simply be in alignment with wherever I am and whoever I am surrounded by. My mind knew how to fall ever so gracefully into the Eternal Now, but it was like one foot was perfectly in alignment while the other was lost in the abyss of the modern world.

But even recently, as I do things I enjoy I find myself quickly remembering that there is some count down I need pay homage to before I can go back to being Present. Like “Sure, the Sun is shining and I am enjoying this walk, but in less than a week I have a bill that I don’t know how I’m going to pay”

So I recently realized that as an adult I have never felt like I am in alignment with anything that I am doing, at least not nearly to the same extent as when I was a child. There had always been some gnawing idea or potential imaginary issue distracting me from simply enjoying whatever it is I am doing (or not doing). And I am realizing that my lack of commitment to where I am, right now, is the cause of this.

I think it’s easy to feel out of alignment because as we get older we take on the judgement and shame of people who feel like they have to live up to some imaginary ideal of success or happiness in order to allow themselves to feel that success or happiness, even for a moment.

So you end up where you are – whatever job you have (or don’t have), whatever relationship you’re in (or not in), or whatever your life situation is.

We live in a world where we are completely and utterly drowned out by imaginary ideas and concepts, as well as reasons why we shouldnt be absolutely stoked about where we are, right now.

Sure – we all know that there is this elusive present moment and flow state – we’ve all been there, we’ve all been schooled on this concept by one of our enlightened friends or family members, or social media friends at some point. But it’s like there is some imaginary cord attached to us that siphons all of the joy we are capable of feeling right now, even if we are doing something we absolutely love.

Because there is no doubt the world we are in right now is a bit chaotic. There is always some sort of drama unfolding on the news. On our social media apps there is persistently something “important” that demands our attention. It might even demand some sort of activisim or for us to show we care by mirroring whatever strife someone else is projecting about some situation. And that’s not to say that we shouldn’t care, but we allow other people and external situations outside of where we actually are, right now, to demand so much energy from us.

I’m finding that really anchoring myself in and fully accepting where I and the external world is at helps me get back into alignment. Just accepting everything as it is. “Yep I have a bill I need to pay in less than a week” but then I make a mental note of every time I needlessly shift back to a countdown when I’m simply trying to exist, even for just a few moments.

I remind myself that I’m trying my absolute best, really. In fact, there hasn’t been a day in my entire life where I haven’t tried my best to “make things work out as best they can”, and I know that is the case for you as well.

It’s just easy to slip out of alignment because everyone else is so busy judging themselves for where they are at and what their problems are, that they accidently project that dysphoria onto everyone else. And so we live in a world surrounded by people who feel out of alignment, and they probably have a shadow that thinks it’s your fault, and you probably have a shadow that is quietly blaming them as well, and so on and so forth.

But the funny thing is that everyone is in perfect alignment at all times. Everyone is playing their roles perfectly, because if they weren’t, whatever unfolded or is unfolding wouldn’t have happened. It happened and is happening because it needs to. Because it is absolutely necessary – because that’s how the world works. That’s how we can more easily and quickly say “Yep, this is where I am” and simply leave it at that without any judgement.

What took me out of alignment in the past was my inflated sense of self (ego). The version of me afraid to commit to anything real. The version of me who wouldn’t dare admit I had been wrong about something – who would actually re-arrange my life situation just to guarantee I never have to admit to someone else or myself that I was wrong about that thing I actually know deep down I might be wrong about.

When it comes to alignment it’s important to remember that happiness and security won’t come from some external idea. It won’t even come from getting what you think you want. You are not going to wake up one morning and all of the sudden everyone around you is as agreeable as you’d like them to be, and everything on the news is as happy as you want it to be.

You’re going to have to find that alignment by yourself. Nobody else can give you that validation except for you. You’re always going to have something to worry about in the future.

Even if you received everything you think you wanted this instant, another alter ego you have will surface and say “OK cool, well now I need this also”.

So go easy on yourself. Remember that you are in whatever situation you are in because it absolutely had to unfold that way. You may have failed (not gotten the outcome you “wanted”) or be worried about falling short on some way, but you have always tried your best. Even if those close to you don’t agree with you, and even if they are incapable of seeing that you’ve never withheld effort or fallen short in any real way.

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Try to remember how easy it was to exist when you were a child, like it was for me. How simple and care-free life was. How you could so easily get lost in the moment doing something simple, with no strings attached. Nothing has changed since then, except for your belief that you need to do or possess something else to deserve to feel in alignment.

Nope, you don’t have to do anything. You are already enough. You’re going to overcome all of your problems and you’ve never withheld effort from yourself or anyone you care about. It’s impossible for you to fail, and even if you do its because for whatever reason it was absolutely necessary. That’s just how Life works.

So just close your eyes and take a big deep breath in, slowly, and then open your eyes as you slowly breathe out. Feel yourself falling back in to the Moment – back in to perfect alignment. Notice how your body becomes less tense as you let yourself be wherever you are right now.

Paradoxically this is where you’ve always been – you just got a little bit distracted by everything else.