You only have to turn on the news to see that things just don’t seem to be

working in the world right now. War, recession, stabbings are commonplace

things that we hear about every day.

So what has happened? And what can we do about it?

When faced with global issues the Iraq War it is all too easy to feel overwhelmed

by what is happening and to say “there is nothing that I can do”.

I believe that a lot of the problems we are experiencing in the world are due to a

feeling of separation, from ourselves and from the world. A feeling of

hopelessness that the external world is falling apart and that there is nothing we

can do to help.

When growing up, I felt completely separated from myself and from others. Life

had no meaning, except pain and unhappiness. I felt insecure, unworthy and bad.

I felt as though I was living in a glass box with the lid shut tight and the rest of

the world was on the outside. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t open the

lid – and believe me I tried really hard for many years. The more I pushed, the

more the lid got tighter and tighter and tighter, until in the end, through absolute

exhaustion, I gave up trying. And that is when my life really started to change.

There is a natural flow to life, like the flow of a river which eventually flows out to

sea. The easy way to live is to get a comfortable boat and to float downstream,

with the river’s natural current.

What a lot of people do however, is to find the smallest, most uncomfortable boat

possible and try to paddle upstream against the natural flow and expect to end up

flowing out to sea, when they are pushing in completely the wrong direction.

Have you ever tried to swim against the tide? No wonder some people feel

exhausted a lot of the time.

When we feel like we are continually pushing and struggling in life (life seems

hard) it is because we are trying to swim against the current. If we let go, give up

trying and just allow ourselves to be in the present moment, then we get into the

flow of life and everything appears much easier than before.

When feeling disconnected and separate from my sense of self and from others, I

had no interest in unity or harmony and no interest in making a positive

difference in the world. It was all I could do to get out of bed in the mornings.

There was a war raging inside of me and I felt alone and I was very fearful of life.

I got up, I went to work, and I played the game of pretending to be OK. At

weekends I went out, I took drugs and I escaped into a complete different world

where I could feel pleasure and feel the sense of connection that was missing in

my non-drug state. Of course, this was just an illusion, and as the years wore on

the effects of continued drug taking became more apparent. I was always ill, my

relationships deteriorated. I found it difficult to motivate myself to go to school, or

to do much of anything, except go out at the weekends and escape once more.

I was always searching for happiness outside of myself. I wanted other people to

provide it for me, which of course they could never do. To me, the world just

seemed like a cold, hard, scary place to be. I expected pain and I got it.

I expected things to turn out badly, and they did. My life was a self-perpetuating,

self-fulfilling prophecy.

The amazing thing has been that as I have healed the war within myself, I now

naturally want to give to others and to help them to heal the war within

themselves.

Through understanding a little more about how we are all connected on a

fundamental level, I now feel more of a connection to everyone and everything

around me.

In letting go of who I thought I was and in understanding who I really am, I feel a

sense of inner peace that I never knew was possible before.

And I believe that if everyone in the world could do the same, we could create harmony and unity amongst us all.