Nothing was more appealing to me than lying on the beach during the holidays, staring at the blue sky and hearing the sound of the waves overflowing with the wind. To me it was like paradise.
I was feeling very calm and relaxed with myself. I had no idea what would happen in the future, but I was always enjoying a happy life.
However, as the holidays drew to a close, my feelings changed. I thought I would fall out of that beautiful place in my mind and come back to a busy life. These days spent on a secluded beach seemed to me nothing but distant memories. This is how life revolved around my annual vacation. Everything was centered on when I would be free.
I thought the holiday was the only chance for me to experience peace and happiness. I could never get away from this feeling until I got closer to God.
I used to plan a lot for the holidays and suffered from mental turmoil when all the plans were not fulfilled. So I have never been able to achieve such spiritual peace.
Will I ever be able to gain depth of feeling again?
Yes - this experience is mine. But not at a holiday destination, but at a conference in my own city.
I was being taught about the inside-out paradigm of psychology, a new and powerful way to gain experience through thinking. In that solitary environment of reflection I began to feel that I was present before God; And there I found what I had always been looking for. This connection with God gave me the feeling of peace and contentment that I had always sought. In fact, all I need is to connect with God. That's why I don't need to leave the country, I don't need to sit on the beach.
Through crying I realized that God was always right here and I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything to build a relationship with Him. I just needed to calm my mind and the inside-out paradigm gave me an easy but groundbreaking way to do it. The inside-out paradigm of psychology teaches us the truth about where our feelings actually come from. We learn that we are only feeling our thoughts, in every moment. Our feelings do not come from anything other than our own thoughts. A constant truth in the case of psychology is: a thought = a feeling. These are all coming from within us.
So how can this knowledge help us to calm our minds and spend more time so that we can feel connected to God?
When we realize with insight that we are only feeling our own thoughts, it throws all other feelings out of the equation. So if I feel upset, I change my inner thinking at that moment and realize that if it is only because of my thoughts, it has caused that special feeling, so there is nothing really to worry about.
When we see this truth unveiled in all areas of our lives, naturally our helpless thinking will change. Our minds will then be calmed, chaos will be reduced and it will be easier for us to gain insight from Allah. If we return to our peace of mind, this will increase our sense of connection with God.