{"id":2303,"date":"2013-04-04T09:56:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T09:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/?p=929"},"modified":"2021-07-26T12:16:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:16:27","slug":"you-dont-need-to-break-to-have-a-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/you-dont-need-to-break-to-have-a-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"You don&#8217;t need to BREAK to have a breakTHROUGH"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2968\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2968\" class=\"wp-image-2968 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/orange-balloon-against-blue-sky-1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/orange-balloon-against-blue-sky-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/orange-balloon-against-blue-sky-1.jpg 425w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/199;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2968\" class=\"wp-image-2968 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/orange-balloon-against-blue-sky-1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/orange-balloon-against-blue-sky-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/orange-balloon-against-blue-sky-1.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><p id=\"caption-attachment-2968\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">image: iStock photo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about this recently. Many of our deep-help beliefs and assumptions drive our behaviour, and as a consequence, much of what happens in our lives.<\/p>\n<p>What if many of us have a deeply held belief that in order to experience peace or enlightenment we need to have a crash first \u2013 that we need to \u2018break\u2019 before we can have a break<i>through<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Some probably don\u2019t even think of this as a belief but as a fact. But I think there are less facts than we think, and more beliefs that seem to be facts.<\/p>\n<p>In our world of duality, yes we do need to know what down is so that we can experience up, but this doesn\u2019t mean that we need to experience down again and again and again and again in our lives. Maybe once is enough.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the belief for many of us who read self-help and mind-body-spirit books perhaps stems from reading books by enlightened people who have experienced deep suffering but awoke from the illusion they had been living in and were enlightened. One of my favorite books where this happened in the authors\u2019 life is \u2018The Power of Now\u2019, by Eckhart Tolle.<\/p>\n<p>We are so moved by the author\u2019s experience and wisdom that we make the assumption that their life path has to be the same for us. It really is a wonderful book and I remember just feeling at peace for days after I read it, such was the impact it had on me.<\/p>\n<p>But does this mean that the only path to enlightenment is through suffering first? I\u2019m sure those who are enlightened would say no. I wouldn\u2019t say I was enlightened myself, so what do I really know? I can only go on intuition and what makes sense to me.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what I think: What if the belief that we need to suffer first is actually pulling many people into suffering because, on some level, they felt it was necessary for them to reach a true space of peace.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t doubt that it <i>is<\/i> a path to enlightenment, but I don\u2019t believe that it is the <i>only<\/i> path.<\/p>\n<p>So what if we didn\u2019t believe this?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t, and interestingly, I remember very clearly the moment when I had that realisation. I felt at peace. Strange! And it lasted for weeks. The sense of peace wasn\u2019t from the resolution of all that I was struggling with at the time, but from the realisation that I didn\u2019t actually need to suffer. The capacity to experience peace was with me all along, and only required a change of thought.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s funny because the breakthrough I experienced \u2013 that we don\u2019t need to suffer &#8211; was created <i>via<\/i> suffering. And I now wonder if I needed to suffer in order for me to realise that I didn\u2019t need to suffer in the first place. Ahhhhh\u2026.. maybe that\u2019s a bit too deep for this short article. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>The mind is a strange thing indeed!<\/p>\n<p>The belief that I needed to suffer was actually pulling some of the strings in my life, leading me into difficult personal situations where I was suffering. When I let go of this assumption, I felt different, somewhat lighter, and life seemed to work a little better for me.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t say that\u2019s how it is for everyone, but of the many, many people I meet around the world as I give lectures and hold workshops, I\u2019d hazard a guess that there\u2019s quite a few people who hold that belief.<\/p>\n<p>My affirmation after that was the title of this article but written for myself:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<i>I don\u2019t need to break to have a break<\/i>through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How about trying that one on for size and see if it fits? It might work or it might not. Worth a try though, I think, if it could at least spare a little suffering for some people.<\/p>\n<p>Have a great day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about this recently. Many of our deep-help beliefs and assumptions drive our behaviour, and as a consequence, much of what happens in our lives. What if many of us have a deeply held belief that in order to experience peace or enlightenment we need to have a crash first \u2013&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[199,200,201,49,55,82,202],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>You don&#039;t need to BREAK to have a breakTHROUGH - David R Hamilton PHD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about this recently. 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