Disclaimer! This is a message I’ve heard a billion times (and I’m sure you have too) but it wasn’t until recently it hit me over the head and sunk in. So why not share my experience and take on it? However, I know the mind sneakily alters information and runs with it for its own benefits. And this is not for the mind to understand, so pay close attention to it! What I’m writing about is not a cognitive understanding (although it could serve as food for thought) it’s an intuitive one. Glad I got that off my chest, now let’s get into it!

I dare to claim that everyone seeks fulfillment. Being fulfilled, that is fully filled, means there’s nothing more to add. In other words: completion. 

What is completion?

Sometimes I find it easier to understand a concept by looking at what it’s not. Incompletion, is in the process of getting “somewhere” else which is not here and now. A process by definition is not the finish line. Most lives contain a set of processes unfolding in parallel  and one after the other. Be it striving for other circumstances in different areas of life or overall. Processes can also be motioning through everyday activities which  “has to get done” like work or household chores. 

On a personal or inner level the lack of completion might be perceived or felt as dissatisfaction or something that needs/has to be: fixed, solved, changed, healed, added, gained, upgraded or done. It can also be the sensation of something undefined being missing, wrong or not sitting right. A fancier and positive connotation to incompletion is exaggerated focus on personal development, growth or truth. 

From another angle the “hunt” for completion is in ranking situations, placing one higher than the other and feeling the effects of it. Or it’s the comparison between the present situation and an imagined best case scenario which always leaves “the now” falling short. Lastly, I’ll mention decision anxiety, the fear of screwing up and making the wrong choice or decision can be a sign of living the perception of incompleteness. 

A person attaching themselves to and depending on processes and outcomes, is an expression of non completeness. Typically, when there’s perceived “progress” or “rightness” occuring, a small window of sensing completion peeps through and the individual breathes a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, this state slips away quickly and back to square one we go. This is the ultimate goose chase of completion. The loop hints at completion being placed in the future, past (where something needs to be repaired) or an alternative reality, anywhere but the present. 

The absence of completion has many faces (more than I’ve mentioned) and plenty of us run around seeking completion without verbalizing it, it’s inherently steering the ship. And it doesn’t need to be a highly distressed state (although it can be). Living from a place of perceived incompleteness is the new normal so nothing might seem off. That is, until the realization hits: completion is.

Completion is the present. There is nothing that’s going to make the present moment “more”. Completion is the now in any way, shape or form. There is nothing that can complete life, because the present is whole. The chase or strive for completeness becomes absurd and slightly funny once you realize completion is constantly staring you in the face (literally). 

The illusion of not being complete is due to the layers of judgments and programmings piled on top of it. Even strongly convincing feelings and thoughts of one being incomplete is completion. So take a look around you, whatever is happening is complete. Important note! Completion does not equal perfection and is not restricted to love and light 24/7. Completion encompasses everything: flaws, pain, problems, guilt, shame, obstacles or confusion. All is included and all of it is completeness. I’m guessing this is what can trip one up and blurr the obvious. All ideas, stories, judgments and assumptions of what completion is, covers the present moment causing one to look “elsewhere”. Whatever is searched or aimed for is always here and felt in every sense, literally! 

Knowing the totality of the present, does it mean all processes and motions cease to be? Do you sit around all day long rolling your thumbs doing, feeling or achieving nothing? Not at all (although that’s also completion) the show goes on as usual. 

So, what’s the big deal? 

When one knows life is always complete it’s not so much what starts to happen, it’s what stops occurring. It’s the end of attachments to races with an illusory finish line. The wait for a medal at a later date is over. Any process or road assumed to lead to relief or something “better” dissolves and what’s left is, what is. The completion of “what is” can finally be experienced fully. These are descriptions that might not say much so here are a few examples (from my experience) of how it translates.

-Emotions are just as active and flavourful yet mainly felt as physical sensations in the body that move through. Labels, stories or reasons attached to the emotions (from the past or potential future) lose their grip.  

-Mind chatter is dramatically turned down. The head feels empty. If  stories appear in the mind, they are viewed as just that: a story with no charge. 

-Negative patterns and stories typically repeating in the mind stops and the identification with them drops. 

-Whatever is happening in the moment is taken at face value, background stories and associations become irrelevant.

-Zoning out rarely happens. 

-Comparisons of the present to anything or anyone stops. It’s irrelevant.

-There’s no sense of needing to prove anything

-Stress, pressure or the need to move forward, progress, complete or achieve is out the window.

-The chest feels expanded and it’s easier to breathe.

-The focus on the past and future exists mostly for practical reasons with no attachment nor expectations. Mental time traveling never hijacks the current moment. 

-Whatever is occurring is not perceived as imposed by anything or anyone, it’s just what is.  

-Its difficult to take anything personally

-Not knowing is perfectly fine 

-All “have to do’s” don’t feel forced upon or heavy

The realization that the present moment is always complete (and always has been) is liberating and takes the edge off of life. This is not to be confused with acceptance, surrender, or apathy. It’s fulfillment as the underlying constant and the essence of completion.