We come alone and we also go
back alone eventually. No one is going to follow us for sure. Some people have responsibility
to complete and some do not have any. It is just temporary life, but life full
of drama. Every book comes with a story that have a beginning and an ending. So
be in joy.
Our ego of saying “this is
mine”, e.g. my house, my car, my wife, my husband, my dog, my cat, my mom, my
dad, etc. are temporary material and feeling of possessiveness in the highest
order. We can’t bring all these things or people beyond the grave. In fact, the
moment when the body becomes lifeless, the don’t call us by name. We are deemed
to be “the body”. Ironically, we are so much attached to worldly material,
reluctant to let go all these temporal pleasures of lives for good.
Everything in life is
temporary! The key is not to get attached but learn to flow with the natural
current of life!
“Life is series of natural
and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them- that only creates sorrow. Let
reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they
like.” Lou Tzu
Sufferings were created when
we expect everything in life to be according to our thought and when it doesn’t
work out as how we wanted it to happen, so this creates distress and sorrowfulness.
What comes to your mind after reading the above statement? Don’t you hold many
expectations in life and how events in life should happen as how you expected
it to be happening, but in actual reality the results show otherwise?
Therefore, you believed that life is going against you and that the force of
life is always waging war on you. You fell depressed and feeling a sense of
giving-up than keep trying.
Though this narrative sound pessimistic
and painted a grim picture, struggling and fighting against natural life events
is futile because we are a tiny water droplet in oceans of life. Mostly, all we
can do and hang on and hope that the storm passes and then arise unharmed.
I had come face to face with
many friends and subordinates who came to me asking for advice and suggestion
for similar narrative of live as mentioned above, when life throws them off
balance, stuck in bad situations or in life threatening conditions due to ill
health. I do empathize with them because I had gone through similar life experiences
and felt powerless compared to forces of life.
Frankly, I don’t have all the
answers to their predicament and the only console I can provide is by reminding
that everything in life is temporary, even our pain and suffering. This meant
that even this unpleasant experiences also will a passing thing too if we
quickly let it go without having any attachment to it.
This reminds me of a passage I
read from one of my preceptor’s spiritual book that mentioned the ability to
flow freely in the river of life without opposing the current and having not to
cling to life obstacles. Learn to let it ago before merging with the great
ocean of understanding.
“Being in the flow means
being aware that the river of life is flowing to us at every moment. Being in
the flow means accepting whatsoever comes and putting it to good use, before
passing it on. Going with the flow means whatever comes to move on freely,
without holding on in any way.” Anonymous
I had gone through many ups
and downs in life. It’s a series of painful sufferings, failures, tormenting
sufferings due to self-made and inflicted by others upon me. Here, I felt vulnerable,
and have little choice over my mortality, life appear bigger than me. During
this phase, the experience of a greater depth to lives if willing to give up
resistance to what is taking place were thought to be a better option. I
learned when in a helpless state, the great act that I can do is yield to
forces of life rather than opposing it.
Did you ever observed how a
tree bows down so low to a strong blowing wind in an intense windstorm, to
avoid being up-rooted? The tree reign still standing steady once the windstorm
passes. A rigid tree will never be able to go through a similar windstorm onslaught.
This comparison serves as a foundation for the way we must think about our life
conditions. We can let go our rigid mind thoughts of how life should unfold. Be
flexible and move along with natural flow of life journey.
Therefore, in the process of
subjecting ourselves with life forces, we are softened by the forces enforced
on us. I was eventually become humbled aftermath of my own ordeal after an
uncompromising ideal expectation. That’s what it means by having a strong back
and a soft front. By having the resilience to stay strong confronting life challenges
with openness and compassion.
Yielding to forces of life is
not same as giving up! Its about developing a strong back-bone or spine and being
flexible facing when facing strong tormenting lice challenges. We have to
adjust our thoughts and flow with the flow of life forces, so it can take us
where it needs to.
