This is a great question for today…the first day of a new year. Perhaps you are entertaining a New Year’s resolution to make greater efforts of some kind. Resolutions have some chance of success in the material world but I have never had much success with them in matters of the spirit.
Humans love to have certainty. If I do this, then this will happen. It’s linear. It assumes causality. I want a path that has a beginning and an end. And this works for improving my job performance or building a business. These accomplishments are incremental. But when it comes to understanding and matters of the heart, there is no time-bound series of steps.
Humans live in a multi-dimensional sea of uncertainty. There are far too many possibilities for a path. Possibilities come from all directions. The best resolution is to resolve not to assume that you know what is right or best. Can I allow life to come at me without habitual explanations and explanations? Can I take things to heart rather than to my head? Can I embrace uncertainty?
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January 1, 2022
Tags: obstacles, uncertainty, work on self
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November 10, 2018
Am I free to proceed with my wishes and obligations? Or am I limited and constrained at every turn, leaving me frustrated and unfulfilled?
Of course nothing ever proceeds according to plan. Success depends upon the ability to manoeuvre. The glorious sensation of being unimpeded comes not mostly from external circumstances but more so from a lack of internal resistance and dissent.
When I cannot proceed with my intentions, I need to see and think differently, without criticism and distress. But what I tend to do is re-enforce or create obstacles which are mostly in the software of my thinking and habitual reactions rather than in the circumstances themselves. Why? Observing the sensations in me will tell the tale. Am I looking for excuses to quit and fail; wanting sympathy; hoping to draw attention to myself; indulging in the mechanical pleasure of emotional reactions; enjoying the momentary excitement of agitation? These behaviours almost always serve a narrative…a story about me and an image I hold of myself.
Unwinding the narrative opens up space, providing the room to manoeuvre.
Can I see the limiting mechanisms objectively, not judging, blaming or defending? If so, perhaps I can learn to step lightly around obstacles and move with the possibilities revealed to me in the present.
Tags: habits, indulgence, intentions, manoeuvre, objective, obligations, obstacles, present, reactions, unimpeded
