We have often heard people say: \u201cI feel like I have a void in my life.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps you yourself have said it at one time or another.<\/p>\n
Generally, many of us say it after a rather heartfelt loss or disappointment.\u00a0 Something that has filled our lives \u2013 a loved one, a job, or a dream \u2013 is suddenly gone, and we feel the empty space inside that is left behind.<\/p>\n
This emptiness brings us sadness, loneliness and in some cases depression.\u00a0 We start to look for ways to fill the void.<\/p>\n
Feeling sad, depressed?\u00a0 Find a therapist or go on a cruise.<\/p>\n
Feeling stressed from the pressure at work?\u00a0 Head to market and pick up some munchies, grab a cigarette or a caf\u00e9 latte.<\/p>\n
Put all that weight back on?\u00a0 Join a different gym or buy the next fad exercise DVD advertised on late night TV.<\/p>\n
Lost a job?\u00a0 Fill out an unemployment claim then load up on lottery tickets.<\/p>\n
Lost a relationship? \u00a0Try eHarmony or head to the local watering hole to drown your sorrows or maybe luck out and meet Mr. or Ms. Right.<\/p>\n
We will attach to almost anything that can either stimulate us or numb us so that we can ignore the void, the emptiness inside.\u00a0 Some of us try to fill the void with food or drink, with drugs, with sex.<\/p>\n
But what we wind up ignoring is the fact that the void, itself, is a blessing in disguise \u2013 not for what new and creative measures we take to fill it. That will only put us back on the merry-go-round of illusion, never to come face to face with reality.<\/p>\n
What most of us have come to \u201cthink of\u201d as reality<\/b> is nothing more than a projection of our thoughts, which are, in fact, unreal.<\/p>\n
But that void inside is our only reality<\/b>.\u00a0 It is our original nature<\/b> as any seasoned Buddhist or Taoist meditator will tell you.<\/p>\n
Instead of trying to fill it with all sorts of compulsive actions or move away from it altogether, we need to go with it.\u00a0 Follow it wherever it leads us.\u00a0 Make it a very close friend, so to speak.<\/p>\n
The hurts and traumas of life do not have to be debilitating or depressing.\u00a0 They only bring us to that point when we try to overcome them.\u00a0 But having the courage to move into the void like an intrepid explorer descending into a fathomless cavern can not only free us from the illusions of life but bring us face-to-face with our true selves.<\/p>\n
In meditation<\/b>, in qigong<\/b>, in our tai chi <\/b>and other nei jia practices<\/b>, following the void and always keeping it before us will not only make us whole but will free us from the enslavements that we once desired.<\/p>\n