What We Resist Persists
I've been riding the emotional rollercoaster this week as I'm preparing to get back out on the road. Though I walk everyday, everyday I discover new and interesting ways that I am badly out of condition. I am exceedingly blessed that I have nearly the whole of everyday to work on it yet sometimes these thoughts paralyzed me. I've been doctoring a back injury for the past several weeks and it's just a bit overwhelming to consider how an injury could affect such a quest as mine.
A new friend of mine, Justin Lee Brown, is currently walking from southern California to Canada. She is walking for the homeless, collecting donations for shelters. However, for the last couple of days, she has been holed up in a hotel unable to walk because of an ankle injury. She is younger than me, by just a few years. I'm inspired by her because most of the "boys" that do this walk are in their 20's and, WOW, that's way different from being...not in one's 20's but SEVERAL DECADES past 20. Please keep Justin Lee in your thoughts.
One of my main desires in starting this blog was to connect with people, people I know as well as people from around the globe that I don’t know. The threads that connect us are our experiences and if I don’t share where I am on any given day, then those threads cannot weave with yours and become the lovely tapestry of compassion, hope and understanding.
I don’t believe I am a lot different from you, my readers. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, we are just trying to resist something difficult or painful. But, if we resist what is, then the discomfort, the sadness, continues multiplied many times over. But if we ride it, surf the breathe of it, EMBRACE IT, it becomes less threatening, less scary. Much like labor in childbirth. And I am in labor, I am in childbirth, birthing a new life for myself.
A new friend of mine, Justin Lee Brown, is currently walking from southern California to Canada. She is walking for the homeless, collecting donations for shelters. However, for the last couple of days, she has been holed up in a hotel unable to walk because of an ankle injury. She is younger than me, by just a few years. I'm inspired by her because most of the "boys" that do this walk are in their 20's and, WOW, that's way different from being...not in one's 20's but SEVERAL DECADES past 20. Please keep Justin Lee in your thoughts.
One of my main desires in starting this blog was to connect with people, people I know as well as people from around the globe that I don’t know. The threads that connect us are our experiences and if I don’t share where I am on any given day, then those threads cannot weave with yours and become the lovely tapestry of compassion, hope and understanding.
I don’t believe I am a lot different from you, my readers. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, we are just trying to resist something difficult or painful. But, if we resist what is, then the discomfort, the sadness, continues multiplied many times over. But if we ride it, surf the breathe of it, EMBRACE IT, it becomes less threatening, less scary. Much like labor in childbirth. And I am in labor, I am in childbirth, birthing a new life for myself.
My little mini dachshund, Rhapsody, has chronic disk disease and like many of her breed, her little back has caused her episodes of paralysis. I’ve noticed that she doesn’t fight it, she just accepts where she is and sooner or later, with hyper-vigilance on my part and the proper combination of meds, she eventually gets back on all 4 feet. She doesn’t bemoan the fact that she missed that once-in-a-lifetime cruise to Alaska or oh-my-gosh why does this always happen to me or play the blame game, if only mom hadn’t taken me on such a long walk. Things just are what they are. She surrenders to it.
I met an amazing woman when I worked for the tax collector. I will never forget her. She was making a document change and I was helping her. I had to send her home for some additional documents that she had forgotten. She didn’t whine and complain, moan and groan, she just smiled and said thank-you, accepted the facts as they were presented to her. She was completely non-resistant. She was also 82 years old and embodied non-resistance. As we got to talking she told me she felt really great. I’m always curious about older folks and love to chat with them, maybe pick up a nugget of gold here and there. She did say that her shoulders were a bit sore from running the weed-eater all over her entire yard because she didn’t have a lawn mower. Mind you, she’s 82! Then she proceeded to tell me how blessed she was because her son bought her a lawn mower so now she can cut the grass properly. I said, (leave it to me to stick in my own 2 cents), “Why didn’t he just mow it for you?” She said her children let her do what she feels like she can do. Looks to me like she can do most anything! Not a grumble or complaint came out of this gentle soul. And her secret to a long life, (of course, I asked)…"take care of the temple and let God take care of the rest."
Byron Katie says there are three kinds of business in the world.
· There is your business
· There is everybody else’s business
· And there is God’s business
And taking care of my own business is a full time job!
Eckhart Tolle says:
Surrender comes when you no longer ask, “Why is this happening to me?”
Watch nature...see how non-resistant all of it is. Then observe the accompanying peace, joy and bliss that is the natural world, the natural flow of life.
Resisting my physical limitations does NOT help me at all. Embrace where I am and move forward...that's the plan, right?
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