Life is a portal to the Beyond

 After struggling with jet lag, last night I got up at 2 am, which would have been the former 4 am. 4 am is typically the time I get up and start working but this time my body knew that it was too early. I felt fear, no specific fear of something, but a general feeling of unease. I sat for an hour in silence and noticed how the spiritual energy in my body had moved up to my neck area. It was stuck there. Another hour went by and it had advanced to the crown chakra. That’s the spot when the writing flows, the mind is still and the heart is wide open.

Wu Hsin says we have to go through our self in order to end up before our self. What does that mean? “Before self” is an energy event. It’s a stage where there is neither understanding nor surrendering for the one who needs to understand and surrender (going through self) is not around. The inner and outer energies are perfectly aligned. Personal energy no longer interferes with Universal Energy. What is referred to as self is a conductor for life as is. The distinction between conscious and subconscious is meaningless in being.

How do we go through the self in order to end up before self? Inquire into self within the body, mind, world matrix and let this manifestation bring you the understanding and offer the opportunity for surrendering (letting go). Who knows exactly what happened in these two hours when I sat in silent meditation. The more important realization is that the sole purpose of this body, mind, world matrix is to be that portal that opens us to Universal Energy. We are “before our self” when the time is ripe. Let’s enjoy self inquiry in the meantime! 

The Power of Gratitude

 My older sister left this world in 1992.

She took her own life, yet for many years I refused to face this truth.

 

We were extraordinarily close.

She was ten years older than me, and from the moment I was born, she was the one who held me, fed me, walked with me, and played with me.

In many ways, she raised me.

I loved her deeply and depended on her completely.

 

After she left, I could not even bring myself to think about it.

In truth, I was running away.

 

Only years later, when I finally found the courage to look at this wound directly, the first thing that rose within me was anger.

 

A cry from the deepest part of my being:

“How could you leave me like this?

How could you abandon me and take away the love I relied on?”

 

This anger was not only mine.

It carried the echoes of my family’s ancestral energy—

the emotions passed down through generations.

 

As I continued to stay with this experience, the anger eventually softened, settling into a stillness. But even then, something felt incomplete.

 

So, I sat quietly with my feelings, allowing them to teach me in their own timing.

 

And then, in less than a minute, something extraordinary arose—

gratitude.

A pure, luminous gratitude rising directly from my soul.

 

I felt grateful for the love she had given me.

Grateful for how she had cared for me, protected me, and accompanied me through the beginning of my life. Grateful that my soul had once been met with such sincere devotion.

 

The moment this gratitude appeared, all the anger, all the pain of separation, all the sorrow of being abandoned dissolved instantly, falling away like a wall crumbling to dust.

 

Only then did I truly see:

the power of gratitude is immense.

 

I saw that she had, in truth, loved me deeply.

And when this understanding arose from my heart—not from thought, but from the living truth within me—every layer of suffering lost its strength.

All the grief, all the longing, all the heaviness simply disappeared.

 

What followed was a quiet, sacred feeling—

the knowing that she and I had never been separated.

 

It felt as though she lived in my soul,

in the innermost chamber of my heart.

She had never left.

There was no distance, no ending, no loss.

 

I was astonished:

“How can gratitude hold such miraculous power?”

 

But it does.

It transforms.

It heals.

It reconnects.

 

Over the years, I have come to understand that

a grateful heart naturally dissolves the barriers within our learning and growth.

 

Without gratitude, we remain entangled

in resentment, guilt, and pain—

circling endlessly without finding a way out.

 

Gratitude is a precious opportunity

to connect—with others, with the universe, with the Dao.

 

It is a sacred energy that rises sincerely from within,

lifting our consciousness and expanding our inner world.

It is not repayment.

It is not obligation.

 

Gratitude is a realm of our own being.

It belongs to us.

It is independent of anyone else.

 

By Suzhen Liu

If you enjoy Suzhen Liu’s writings, please check out her new book, “Discover Love Within—Release Your Suffering” available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Love-Within-Release-Suffering-ebook/dp/B0G4L29MVN

Falling into Grace

 When it comes to achieving a climax, many men can literally grab it, whereas I am told it’s a more subtle process for most women. This is what Google AI had to share on the subject of female orgasm:

“Women can actively engage in behaviors that facilitate an orgasm, but the orgasm itself is an involuntary physiological reflex that occurs once a sufficient level of sexual tension has been reached. It involves both voluntary and involuntary processes working together.”

The merger with Universal Energy is similar. There is an element of “falling into” after we have opened a portal to receiving this divine energy. Vinod Mittal compares receiving Grace with the act of falling asleep. We can go to bed; we can close the light and our eyes, but sleep also has to come to us.

How can we open this portal to ready ourselves for the reception of Universal Energy?

Honest and pure living 

Choose your environment (nature, mission, friends, avocation, etc.)

Be mindful of energy pollutants 

Be mindful of psychological thinking 

Be mindful of inner energy blockages

Universal Energy is always present—Fall into Grace

Observing How Worry and Inner Conflict Arise

 To truly release our worries and inner conflicts,

we must first see how they are born.

If we do not see their origin,

we cannot loosen their hold.

Otherwise, our understanding remains only a product

of the mind’s imagination—

and imagination changes from moment to moment,

never holding real power.

 

When the first trace of trouble appears—

when the mind begins to weave stories of pain and confusion—

that is the moment to awaken and observe.

How is suffering created?

How do we keep producing these patterns

and repeating them again and again?

 

Observation must begin

from what is happening now.

If it does not arise from the living reality of this moment,

it belongs to imagination—

to the shifting pictures within the mind—

not to the truth of the present.

 

We often mix our memories with the present moment,

entangling the past with what is happening now,

and as we do, the burden grows heavier.

 

In relationships,

we often argue because we long to feel loved,

seen, and affirmed.

When this does not happen,

we cannot say directly,

“You don’t love me. You don’t see me. You don’t care.”

 

We cannot say it,

for we are unaware of what we truly need.

Instead, we speak through blame—

“You didn’t do this right.”

“You didn’t say what I wanted.”

“You made me feel bad.”

 

But if we stay with the moment as it unfolds,

we may begin to see

that behind every reaction

lies a tender wish—

to be seen,

to be accepted,

to be held in love.

 

Then we can observe another truth:

when we seek to be seen,

a subtle dependence begins to form.

We start to rely on the feeling of being affirmed,

and from this dependency

arises our resistance toward the other.

 

This observation must continue,

moment by moment—

in your daily life,

in every encounter that brings discomfort,

in every moment when you feel unseen or unloved.

 

The practice is not to ask,

“How should the other change so I can feel at peace?”

but to ask,

“Why do these feelings arise within me?”

 

When we see clearly,

the knots begin to loosen on their own.

 

By Suzhen Liu

If you enjoy Suzhen Liu’s writings please check out her new book, “Discover Love Within—Release Your Suffering” available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Love-Within-Release-Suffering-ebook/dp/B0G4L29MVN