The Role of the Subtle

How can we change our life? What can we do, right here and right now to change our life? Maybe, our circumstances are grim, our outlook bleak. Maybe, we feel alone, despondent and without hope. It’s a struggle for some every single day. If applying consideration of how others are far worse off than us does not work to alleviate the pain and suffering of our current situation, what can we do to change the direction of our life?

When thinking of others fails, when we feel there are no concrete, tactile ways to make any change, we must alter our perception of the current reality. That’s easy to say, “Get over it,” not so easy to make the leap on our own. We must start the change in perception with something familiar.

The subtle does have much relevance to daily living, more so than the big events of the day. The subtle shades and blurs those events. It clouds our natural ability to acquire, analyze and act. If we begin to change how we perceive the subtle in our daily life, we have a chance of affecting our analysis and action on the larger concerns.

Let’s start with consumption, something we all do every single day of our life. Maybe, clean water is even an issue for us, go subtler. We all must breathe. Our body breathes all on its own, without any recognition or control by us. Breathing is the only necessity. Change how you view your breathing, and you alter how you view your entire existence.

There’s so much to explore with every breath. Each breath is a miracle in itself. If we don’t believe that, we’re missing the special nature of life. It is a blessed gift, and, opportunity can be found in every single breath.

Explore your breath. It’s not going anywhere. You may find yourself lost, but your breath will come back into awareness once again. You need only try to focus on watching your body breathe. The mind will want to run away, and it will again and again. Try this for a few minutes, even just once a day for a few days. What’s the harm? You’re going to breathe anyways. And, is it truly better to focus on what’s not happening or worse yet what’s painful?