Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - Chapter 9
So much of the time it seems that the harder we try the less effective we are. And that can be so frustrating!
Years ago, when I first learned to surf, I experienced a lot of failure, until one day. That day, exhausted, annoyed, and resembling a drowned mouse, I gave up striving. I had no fight left in me. I was ready to give up. But then I looked around me, observed the conditions, and in that moment, understood.
I’d like to say that from that moment on I have perfectly embodied what it is to practice effortless action and simply trust the flow of life but I have not. The ego mind is still around like an annoying backseat would-be driver, convinced it can maintain control and force life to do its bidding. But, when I remember that there is little to be done but simply cooperate with life, even when I don’t understand or like it much, life seems to somehow keep working out. Some call that faith, I call it trust.
This ‘letting go’, and maintaining balance amidst the ebb and flow of life, is not for the faint at heart but it is a ticket to freedom. And it’s not a one-time choice. It’s a decision that I have to make, that we all have to make, every single day.
If you find yourself feeling defeated take some time to catch your breath, seek stillness, and observe. Where has there been too much effort? What can you surrender? What can you let go of? How can you work more with the energy rather than resist it?
Trust life and take heart, she knows where she is going, even when we don’t. And I know that some days that is a tall order, but you got this!
Blessings!
April