The illusion of control.

​note: we link to our free guide to mindfulness and meditation at the bottom of the page (no email required).

​The world isn't here to fulfill your desires. That's not a harsh truth - it's just a...truth.

What happens in any given moment is the culmination of 14 billion years of causes and conditions that preceded it. And, what happens in any given moment will become part of causes and conditions that give rise to the next moment.

The illusion of control makes us believe we can shape, mold, or force what appears before us, in this moment. We think we control this little patch of experience, all the while ignoring everything else that's happening in the Universe.

Do we make the sun shine? Do we make the wind blow? Do we make our hearts beat?

No. But, for some reason, we fully believe we control this little patch of experience that appears before us.

Our inner narrative drives expectations, and those expectations cause a struggle with "what is" vs. "how we want it to be." The latter rarely matches the former. And, even if it comes close, our minds tell us it could be better if only something was a little different.

As long as we are caught up in our minds, we will be victim to the struggles and suffering they give rise to. We think the world is here to fulfill our desires. We grasp after. We push away. "I want this." "I don't want that."

We attach to results and hope for certain outcomes, and life comes crashing down when they don't occur.

We lose sight of the fact that this moment is the only way it can be, due to the billions of years of causes and conditions that brought it into being. And, while you can be aware of your intentions and actions, you have little insight into much else that goes into what unfolds here and now.

It's times like these when you should give up hope. What this means is, stop being hopeful for something to happen. Or not happen. Or, happen differently.

Mindfulness and meditation teach us not to cling to "this" or push away "that." They teach us to meet reality with presence and compassion, regardless of what happens.

So, drop your demands of the world. Shed your expectations. Stop struggling against the force of billions of years of causes and conditions. Without this excess mental baggage, you can better deal with "what is" instead of getting lost in your inner narrative about "how it should be."

As a result, your decisions and actions in this moment will be more skillful. And, those skillful decisions and actions will become part of causes and conditions that give rise to the next moment.

To quote Dzigar Kongrul Rinpoche,

"Humour allows us to see that ultimately things don't make sense. The only thing that truly makes sense is letting go of anything we continue to hold on to. Our ego-mind and emotions are a dramatic illusion. Of course, we all feel that they're real: my drama, your drama, our confrontations. We create these elaborate scenarios and then react to them. But there is nothing really happening outside our mind! This is karma's cosmic joke. You can laugh about the irony of this, or you can stick with your scenario. It's your choice."

Stop dealing with the symptoms.

Stress, anxiety, self-confidence issues, the inability to stop bad habits, problems with sleep and focus, and on and on and on.

These and the other things we struggle with every day are only symptoms. 

The good news is, they all share the same root cause. The bad news is, if you don't address that root cause, the symptoms will keep coming back no matter what you do.

That's why we wrote "An owner's guide to the mind." For almost 20 years, people have been using it to address the root cause of their daily struggles.

Click here to view the contents and learn more.