Dharma Talks: The Movement
Dharma talks - truth talks. There’s a movement in the air. The movement is self-discovery.
Maybe it’s a movement in my mind towards something that happens to be reaffirmed by the actions of others around me. So maybe it’s a projection being refracted. Either way, I’m deeming it a movement because I can do that.
I see it with the rebel cry to be an independent individual across virtual and reality interfaces. I see it cracking open the mundane monotony we were taught was the way. I see my friends, family, and coworkers turning towards eclectic expressions of searching for their truth.
Self-discovery is equivalent to living in one’s true dharma - moving along the path defined by one's true nature. Dharma is defined as an aspect of truth.
To me, dharma is having coffee with one of your closest friends, smiling widely, and cuddling a cat. Dharma is shaking your body wildly to release excess emotion and tension because you feel like it. It’s getting your nails done in a crazy color then walking home in the rain without an umbrella and laughing in joy at the wonder of the weirdness of it all.
Dharma is working hard at something because it resonates deep in your psyche. It’s divergent from societal pressures. For example, not feeling sad as a single on Valentine's Day because you are exactly where you want to be anyway, staying in San Francisco and making dumplings.
Dharma is being present and listening to what bubbles to the surface from within your subconscious. It’s having late-night conversations and letting what feels right be said. When you realize deep connection and vulnerability set you free, you feel safe and act effortlessly from a place of abundance. It’s the courage to be truly seen and know the right people will understand.
Dharma seems more present when you’ve made your body and mind safe for revelations and terrifying thoughts. The thoughts must be welcomed in for tea. Even if they’re dressed and ready for war, the host must be unassuming to whatever they have to say. Then you tune in to not only the intelligence of another but to the deeper intelligence within that you nor I can understand on a conscious level.
I’ve gotten to the point where my dharma also feels like doing dishes for others with no recognition and expectation. It’s doing what feels right with no regard for an ego boost like going out of my way to compliment someone or hold the door open. By acting out of dharma and not ego, I further my self-discovery of what is my purpose and what I can do for others.
Dharma is true intuition. According to Vippassana.org, Dharma is universal and eternal, free from religious ties, although the word is more prevalent in some religious texts. Dharma is embodying and encompassing one’s duty - what is right, moral, and just is the way. For some, that requires more external guidelines than others. But once it becomes internally ingrained, it’s an addictingly, well-attuned harmony you cannot stop listening to.
