The Yellow Tricycle: Part 2
Continuing from part 1…
As I have written elsewhere, I came to the UK as a refugee seeking political asylum in the late 1970’s. When we first arrived we were temporarily housed with several other Vietnamese families in a huge mansion owned by a very kind family.
At that time, life was very confusing to say the least. I was 6 years old and I had no understanding as to why I’d been taken from my home, set adrift upon a huge ocean, set upon by plundering sea pirates, and forced to witness dehydration, starvation and death.
While other children were reading eagerly about ‘death-defying’ adventures, I had lived it first hand and craved nothing more than an ordinary life. All I wanted was to be a normal boy, to hang out with my friends, and play with my toys.
So one day, when we heard rumours that a van was on its way laden with generously donated toys, we gathered outside and awaited its arrival in a state of wonder and amazement.
As the sound of its engine drew near we could hardly contain our excitement, and suddenly there it was, slowly making its way down the path and approaching the front lawn.
We gathered around the tailgate, and as explained above, when the doors were thrown open my dream yellow tricycle came into view.
The crucial details within the story is this: at that moment the tricycle looked and felt like the answer to all of my woes.
As I fought my way into the van towards it - climbing through a sea of soft toys, footballs, and dolls - that tricycle seemed to offer the promise of lasting happiness.
As I pulled it out triumphantly into the daylight and peddled away into the summer air, it felt as though I was escaping my sorrow, loss and pain forever.
To my six year old mind, the tricycle seemed to be the missing piece of my life’s puzzle. But slowly and surely that turned out to be wrong, and soon the bike was just another object in a world that made little sense and in which pain and loss had not been outrun at all.
It wasn’t the tricycle's fault - and it wasn't my fault either - that the experience was such a let down. It was the fault of not knowing where my experiences really came from.
Our Sovereign nature
Like all of us, in the ensuing years I experienced many similar heartbreaks and disappointments seeking different versions of that dream object.
All were an attempt to find an ultimate source of happiness and reduction of stress outside of myself.
But one day the penny dropped in the form of a question: if it's true that my mind is always involved 100% in mediating my experience of reality, what if the source of happiness and reduction of stress are also 100% within me?
And further - what if that projection of happiness onto objects, people and situations was itself a key part of the problem?
That insight offered a starting point or foothold which facilitated a shift in my happiness, health and success. I realized that within each of us there lies a Sovereign nature - an innate capacity to thrive regardless of the external situation.
As I write, I’m still uncovering deeper and deeper levels of this ‘life-affirming’ - rather than ‘death-defying’ - adventure.
So if you’re seeking to enjoy greater levels of happiness and prosperity, or hoping to achieve greater health and wellness, understanding the nature of your own experience is absolutely crucial.
What ‘yellow tricycle’ are you still pursuing in the hope of real change and lasting happiness? And what freedom and wellbeing awaits you within, when your own Sovereign nature finally comes into view?