Under two impressions

At any given moment, we are under some impression of what is true about life. We expect something to happen and can explain what already happened based on the impression we are under. Something previously impressed us so much that we believe it is extremely true. We internalize it as a fact of life or our particular fate, curse, blessing or destiny. We operate under this premise with such a commitment, we dismiss any contrary evidence.

Whatever impression we are under, it appears we cannot change it. Impressions happen to us, We seemingly don't create them or have access to revise them in order to live under a different impression. Anyone of us who tries to change core beliefs or deeply held convictions has experienced the futility of revising these. That's the bad news.

There's also some good news in this. We are living under two impressions. One clouds the other and makes it seem like we are living under only one impression. The impression that precludes the other is intended to be removed. Once the second impression is in the clear, our life feels like clear sailing in the flow of one good thing after another.

The first impression comes from our lived experience. We got this impression from what happened to us that's different from what we wanted, intended or acted to make happen. We may get impressed that we can succeed at anything we set our mind to. We may be under the impression we fail at anything we try to accomplish. We may be impressed by how kind people are or how cruel they are to us. We may impress others with how generous or needy we are. They may become impressed with how powerful or helpless we appear to be.

All these impressions obscure the second impression. We live in fear, recurring past history and confining limitations. We see no way out that succeeds at getting out from under this impression. We learn to endure our struggles, accept our fate and turn down opportunities that we already know won't work out for us.

On occasion, we will get glimpses of the other impression. Things will go unexpectedly well. Timing will work our perfectly. We enjoy a string of good luck, delightful coincidences and reassuring turns of events. We'll get a sense from these other impressions that our first impressions are not totally true. We suspect we have been duped or overly boxed in. We may regard those impressions acquired from what happened to us as no longer valid. We may welcome a change and dismiss what always happens to us.

Once we become disenchanted with living under the first impression, we can choose otherwise. We start to regard our past history as "so what", "irrelevant", "not here and now", or "nowhere to be seen in this experience". We get a much bigger sense of the now moment. We stop prejudging, expecting or knowing what to think. We live in a "time out" and see what comes of it.

When we take ourselves out of time, we live under the other impression. When we call a time out we are out of time and into the other fate for us. When we give ourselves freedom from our past and present circumstances, we experience new, different and enlivening changes.