If you were to write a story, what type of story would it be? Would it be a tale of dragons and heroes? What form would it take? Would it be a horror tale of vampires and victims or a sweet love story? Would it be a story of your adventures and the mighty you conquering the world?

Whatever story you choose to tell, a story is just a story. It is a story in your mind. Whatever you choose to believe and to think, it is finally a shape, a vision, a fragment of reality, a subjective representation in your mind of all “what is” around you. You might say, for instance, -but nothing travels faster than the speed of light, that is a fact-. Is it really? What if something could travel faster than the speed of light? What if the reality that we see is just a tiny fraction of everything “what is”? What if there are energy fields and waves that our bodies just cannot perceive? It is from any point of view, quite difficult to believe that we are completely aware of everything around us. We measure life and the universe from a very limited 5-senses perspective and we go around making assumptions about everything, fitting what happens around us to our story. I mean, there are even colors that we don’t manage to see and sounds we can’t hear. We can’t even hear what dogs can. What if there was a lot more out there that we just don’t perceive? What if there were even beings around us that we can’t see nor touch? oh wait, we call them ghosts.

I was in a workshop earlier this week. The host would ask everyone to present themselves and to answer a simple but powerful question: “what makes you happy?”. People named several things and activities that would make them happy, like good food, shopping, traveling, the little things, spending time with loved ones and so on. Pretty reasonable and legitimate answers. Most of the attendants mentioned external things, people or experiences to define happiness. What kind of definitions are those? Aren’t we too focused on the external world? Shouldn’t we be looking into inner realms?, even the question points to something external. We keep defining ourselves through separation and identification with external entities: The more luxury clothes I have, the better, distinct and happier person I am. The better job I get, the happier person I become. We keep telling ourselves those stories. Stories of success, power and status. -I am John Doe, engineer, athletic, famous philanthropist and entrepreneur. A dynamic and career-oriented person-. But, are those stories who we really are?

Whatever concept or idea of yourself you might have, remember something important: it is an idea, a mental structure, a story in your mind. It is not what the “real you” is about. All mental structures one day can fall. You can suddenly lose everything, all your possessions and status. One day you will retire and you will not be anymore the top and successful manager, member of that spectacular organization. You will be one more, a senior, perhaps with heart or back problems. Even more, one day you will die. When you die, people won’t write on your headstone: “John Doe, successful manager, raised sales by 20% and owned several properties and a Porsche”. I guess people would rather write something like “beloved husband (or wife)”. Moreover, one day your whole family might die and the beloved husband story won’t be true anymore. So what are you going to do if all those stories come to an end? Will there still be a you in you?

 “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water” Bruce Lee

Of course, there will be a you, but most importantly, there is a you within you, right now, in this very present moment. The key to recognizing that you within you is the realization that all those stories about you, your life and the world are just that, stories in your mind. It is realizing that you need to shift away from the talking mind and the ideas that your body and yourself are a solid and separated entity. Your body is actually more than 80% water and is formed by millions of atoms and cells that belong to this world. It is that energy that puts your atoms together the very essence of you and everyone else. So we are talking about spiritual awareness, and guess what, there is no magic in it. You don’t need to go to the mountains and learn karate to become aware of the essence of your true self. We all have access to it every time we want. So be the water within you and let yourself flow with the Universe.