Doing This Feels Dangerous And I Strongly Recommend It!

What a ride the last 9 months has been! It feels like I've been whitewater rafting in a raging river with no training. Certainty is a hoax anyway, so the acute awareness of just how little control we have over what is coming our way is a useful place to be, albeit uncomfortable.

I've become really tired of pushing through life and it's lead me to explore how else I could live. Most of us in my community are taught to plan ahead almost to the exclusion of any other way of being. The object is to avoid pain and unpleasantness and to make ourselves as comfortable and protected as possible. The disproportionate focus on planning ahead in order to avoid pain often brings the very pain we are attempting to avoid. It's not that we shouldn't avoid pain, it's just that we miss so much of our short experience on this planet when we make it our main strategy. When we live in the future or the past more than in the present, we abandon ourselves and our loved ones in this moment.

There is a misunderstanding that surrendering to life is tantamount to giving up - becoming lazy and indifferent. It is precisely the surrender to the energy of this vast universe that helps us find the abundance for which we look - financial, spiritual and relational. This approach is counter-culture, so it feels dangerous but my experience has shown me that it's a more peaceful way to live and love. Surrender is allowing yourself to be carried by the river instead of constantly swimming against it. Sometimes you hit some rocks and get hurt but at least you were enjoying the ride until that point! If we're swimming upstream the whole time, we still hit rocks and miss out on the joy of the smooth parts of the ride because we spent them anticipating danger all the time! (Living in a scary future that has not happened yet).

In my experience, surrender leads to effective action when necessary. Let's find a way to glide down the river of life with more joy and less angst. I have a feeling it will change our world for the better.

Find the courage to be here now; connect with yourself and take action that has an impact.

Ideas To Start Living In The Present

Practice gratitude - write it, speak it, dance it! The more you do it, the more joy you'll feel.
Spend time in nature, even if it's only looking closely at the leaves of a tree or the petals of a flower. Notice how everything flows until it doesn't any more.
Practice self-enquiry: What thoughts do you constantly think that are causing you suffering? They are usually thoughts of the future or the past. They are not real. Only this moment is real. (See Byron Katie's "The Work" for more on this.)
Play with a puppy or kitten or any baby animal that wants attention! They are only in the present moment and draw you into that beautiful, joyful place too!