When we think of grief, we tend to think when someone passes. The truth is, we can have grief for lots of things. A break up. A lost job. Having to give something up due to age or health. Anything we care about that is lost can trigger grief. If we are in grief, we remain attached. Grief must go through it's 5 stages observed, felt, and unrushed. Only by recognizing and processing that grief can we reach acceptance from which we can then let go of attachment.

Not just what’s happening on the surface, but the deeper loops you seem to keep running. The moments where you think 'Why does this keep happening?' or 'Why do I always end up back here?' Sometimes we get so used to our struggles that they start to feel like part of who we are. But what if they’re not? What if they’re just patterns - patterns that can be understood, unraveled, and rewritten? Take a moment. What’s showing up for you right now? What keeps repeating? Let’s start there.

The Bhagavad Gita uses a beautiful analogy in Chapter 15—a banyan tree. It asks us to imagine a tree standing beside a pond, reflected in the water. “The Blessed Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.” (BG. 15.1) In simple terms, it is saying that this material world is like a reflection of the spiritual world. Everything we see here exists in its true form in the spiritual dimension. But—and here’s the twist—what is high in the spiritual world appears reversed here, almost upside down. Now, you may be thinking, “I’ve never seen a tree growing upside down!” And you’d be right—at least not in real life. But you have seen it in a reflection. When a tree stands by water, its image appears with the roots up and branches down. Nature is quietly teaching philosophy… we just don’t always notice. In the same way, this material world is described as a reflection of the real, spiritual reality. But here’s the important detail: this reflection is standing on desire, just like a reflected tree stands on water. No water, no reflection. No desire, no material entanglement. Desire is what keeps this reflected world “appearing real” to us. If one wants to understand this world—and eventually move beyond its limitations—one has to study this “tree” carefully. Not by climbing it (good luck with that), but by understanding its nature. Then, gradually, one can loosen one's attachment to it. This reflected tree is not random—it is an exact, though distorted, replica. Everything exists in the spiritual world in its pure and original form. The material world is simply a perverted reflection—same variety, but not quite the same quality. Like a photocopy of a photocopy… still recognizable, but a bit faded. So, who are we in all this? We can say we are consciousness. But more personally, we are individuals—with relationships, personality, and feelings. These don’t disappear in the spiritual world; they actually exist there in their most perfect and beautiful form, without confusion or imperfection.

Do you let it affect you? Do you let the outcome affect you and all of this? Well if you do then read on because it's not a good idea. Listen whenever you let the outcome affect you and something that's not in your control dictates how you feel about your happiness, you really are just shooting yourself in the foot and it's not good for you. But what should you do instead then? Well instead of letting these things affect you, what you do is you just try your best with whatever this is. Maybe it's trauma-hating, maybe it's getting sales or whatever. Just do the maximum effort but have the minimal emotional connection to it because if you let it affect you and you dictate your happiness and your well-being on something that is not controllable, that will really not be good for you and you're shooting yourself in the foot when you do that. Yeah thank you for reading and I hope it was valuable.

Is it crazy to think that doing inner work could be the key to shifting outer circumstances? Recently I put my house in Austin Texas up for sale… I’ve had a shift in values over the last few years and as a result have wanted to own less materialistic things Owning an investment house became mental bandwidth that included finding renters, paying for repairs and high property taxes out here in Texas As a result about 5 months ago I decided… I am going to SELL it and be free of it At the suggestion of the real estate agent I put in about 40K to make it perfect with the intention that it will sell fast and I’d get back what I put in After the repairs and upgrades in February we put it on the market For weeks there was a lot of buzz with it People seeing it saying they liked it, open houses, etc However no offers came through in the first month And to be honest…. The market in Austin has been slow and down for the last few years Was I energetically attracted to it selling and holding energy that was blocking it from selling? If the outer reality is a reflection of the inner, what do I need to shift? In that frustration I was doing some inner reflection and had some big realizations… The way I related to the house was similar emotion to childhood I felt trapped by the house… it felt "not fair" (very similar to childhood energy where I felt stuck with controlling step mom) I bought when the market was growing and then it tanked I felt the burden of the house and that I was STUCK in it And NOW it’s not selling and I still feel trapped I was reading a book one night on healing the inner child and had a huge realization I felt "victim" to the situation. I was carrying the energy of this is happening TO ME The house was a reflection of how I felt about it and how I was showing up I also realized I was waiting to feel free ONCE the house sold So in this awareness I made a choice before falling asleep that night… I am not a victim. I can handle it. I will do what I need to do and be patient. God/the divine can take the wheel