It´s no always obvious to me why things happen the way they do. There are so many moments in every day life when stuff goes “wrong” – doesn´t happen the way we want or expect it to – and our frustration levels will arise with alarmingly fast pace. What is clear (by now) though, is that you better go with it, resisting will only make things harder. This is of course easier said than done. We are used to controlling our lives, making plans and expectations that need to be fulfilled in order to feel satisfied. There is a weird paradox in this, since the most profound quality of life is change – reformation, and yet that´s what we opposite the most. Life feels very secure when things stay the same. Although indulging yourself to the moment, going with the flow, is the only way of finding anything out of ordinary. What keeps us from doing that is in most cases our outdated mindset. It wants to hold on to the past by reacting – RE / ACTING on what happened in the past, instead of being here now and welcoming the reformation. Reacting is like putting yourself through the same old incident, mentally (and physically through body emotions) acting on the past over and over again…
Let me give you one super simple example. The other day I was on my way to somewhere and planned on taking a tram to get there. For unexpected reasons I couldn´t make it to the tram and had to take a bus instead. Instantly I started feeling irritated by this new unwanted outcome. Life suddenly turned a lot more complicated and my mind started resisting it.
It´s good to see the difference between ME versus my MIND, and not to identify with the latter. When me, the consciousness, becomes aware of the mind resisting, the gap between those two entities is already expanding. I can let go of the resistance since it´s not me who is resisting. So standing on the bus stop all agitated about the “wrong” outcome, I once again reminded myself of this simple truth. By reacting I am resisting, not reacting is not resisting. This goes hand in hand with few other insights: what you give your attention to is what you will get more of, and that will become your reality. So be aware of where your attention goes to, hopefully not to all the negativity and unwanted fact that you missed your tram and need to take a bus. When I became alive to realize this, I knew that what happened had a reason, whether a saw it or not. When the bus finally came and I was hopping on, there was a little girl (looking very much like me over 20 years ago) who was talking to her two friends at the bus stop. She was afraid of not having enough money for the bus ride, and her friends were worried about how she will get home. The girl hopped on before me and her card balance was insufficient. Looking sad she was exiting the bus – and there I saw my reason. I volunteered to pay her ride, and when I went on for it, the bus driver insisted on offering it for her instead. What a lovely outcome for my “tragic” journey. The simple joy of giving made the bus ride very much worth while.
