Reality is "what is." It doesn't come with a story - you know the story of what is happening. Reality just happens.  We add the story. Stories can be vivid or complicated or they can be subtle and almost imperceptible.

In my quest to find out what's behind the story of life, I discovered vichara. The path of self-inquiry, called vichara, asks the question, "Who am I?" I meditated on that question for many days. One day I felt I was in the presence of the answer. "Everything after 'I' is a story." It was not until later that I realized the answer I readily accepted, was premature. I was so proud of that insight. Then the truth became apparent - Once "I" is thought or spoken, whether it is conscious idea or an unseen assumption, the story begins. And the story is one of separation.

The truth is a nightmare to certain mental structures - the ones we refer to as "ego." I have awakened and gone back to sleep many times.  Even though there has been a progression of peace in my life, that doesn't matter. I am either awake or asleep now. Now is the residence of reality.

I like to contemplate the words of masters. Sometimes I read what I have written and that truth settles into me and I wake up and at other times it is the words of others that jar me from my mental perches. Byron Katie's work displays a level of awareness that is destructive to my mental positions. She helps me wipe the me-ness out of life. The following excerpts are from her book, "A Thousand Names for Joy."

"The original stressful thought is the thought of an I. Before that thought was peace. A thought is born out of nothing and instantly goes back to where it came from. If you look before, between and after your thoughts, you will see there is only vast openness. That's the space of don't know. It's who we really are. It's the source of everything: life and death, beginning, middle and end." Page 47

"I've heard people say that they cling to their painful thoughts because without them they would not be activists for peace. "If I felt completely peaceful," they say, "why would I bother taking action at all?" My answer is "Because that's what love does." To think we need sadness or outrage to motivate us to do what's right is insane. As if the clearer or happier you get, the less kind you become. As if when someone finds freedom, she just sits around all day with drool running down her chin. My experience is opposite. Love is action. It's clear, it's kind, it's effortless and it's irresistible." Page 75.

I've noticed that in the very clearest moments of my life, the voice in my head was silent. There was no call to do things differently or any kind of appraisal of reality. I was just there, free and that presence was enough. There's nothing wrong with hovering around the idea of me or "I," it's just that when the me, I and my disappear, life gets more interesting. It feels like giving life a chance to be what it is without my interference.

I wish I had a technique to tell you how to be in this place of reality, but I can't because you are already there. Giving you information on living in reality is like giving you information on how to be a human. The information will not get you here. A jet plane won't get you here because you are already here, immersed in the grand play of life, which is reality.

I'm hoping these word might awaken something in you, the dormant realization that you are already what you seek and that reality, just as it is, supports that realization.

Did you know that dancing three times a week, is more effective than psychotherapy? Suppose that is not actually true? Could it benefit you to believe that dance can reeve up your energy and soothe your soul?   It might be true about the three times a week. Certainly dance heals. So dance more.  Maybe you don't have a partner, but why wait? As long as you are there, there's always a dance going on. I dance with my dog and sing the songs.

There was an amazing experiment done with older adults. They lived in an environment that played music from their youth,  TV programs from that era and decorated the surroundings to reflect that period.  The physical world was time warped to the past. The participants stayed a few weeks and  found when they took biological functioning tests, they had actually youthened.

Try a little dance today, even if it is a foot tapping dance or just moving the upper part of your body to the music. Check out the oldies music channels and sway to some of the music. I dance to exercise. It's so much fun.

I hope you enjoy this video bringing the new to the old. Happy Dance Day and remember to make it an easy day.