Interruptions in the flow

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A rock in the middle of a river hardly ever interrupts the flow of the water. It can make for beautiful picture opportunities, especially if it is in the middle of rapids in the river…

Yet in our lives it seems that when the flow of life ~ or at least the flow we are finding ourselves in ~ is interrupted, we see that as a problem that has blocked our path. And where the water in the river doesn’t even thinks twice about changing its course ever so slightly in order to continue its flow, us humans do not always have the same flexible perspective.
We have a tendency to feel stuck.

In all reality our lives consists of many flows; many strands of flow that sometimes work together, and at other times seem to diverse directions. So while each strand of flow stands on its own, it does have an effect on other strands of flow within ourselves; within our lives.
For example, when we get in an unexpected stressful situation ~ for instance getting in a traffic jam while in a hurry ~ it may only interrupt one area of our lives. But then the stress itself may also affect the flow of our breathing, the rhythm of our hearts, our sense of wellbeing…

When the flow of life is interrupted ~ at whichever level, in whichever area of our lives ~ there are two ways to look at it:
The interruption is a problem which we can or cannot solve at the moment.
The interruption is a sign that there are other ways to get to where we desire to go; or that there are even better places to go to.


This also indicates that sometimes the irruption in the flow is easily solved, while other times we may find that we are pushed into a new and different direction; or at least into a fresh look at what we are doing, and why we are doing it. And while some interruptions do need our immediate attention and prompt solution, others can be relatively easily diverted as long as we have a flexible mindset that allows us to move around the obstacle rather than trying to move straight through it.

To be more like the water in the river that just alters its flow ever so slightly to go around the interruption in its flow…

So when we encounter an interruption in the flow of our lives, rather than being annoyed at being faced with this problem, we may well see it as an eye-opener to look closely at what we are doing.
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Accepted as truth

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There are many things we accept as truth. The things we have learned growing up; even the ways we saw our parents behave when we were very young can have set the pattern for the way we will behave as grown-ups. At some level we feel that is how it should be done; therefore it is truth.
Other things may come up later in life. For instance the things we are told by a respected teacher, or even a person having a respected profession like a doctor we may not question as to its truthfulness. We tend to just accept it as truth.

At some point we may find that there are things that we have personally experienced and through that experience have found to be either true or false. This way we start building our personal truth. And by the same token we may find that the way our parents behaved when we were still toddlers, ultimately has not added anything to our coping skills in life. In other words, there will be things that we have accepted as truth ~ perhaps even for a long time ~ only to find that they weren’t true after all. At least not for us personally.

There are also circumstances we may find ourselves in that according to general belief, or ‘general truth’, are close to impossible to change. These circumstances may have to do with our economic situation, our living situation, or with the state of our health… In whichever area of life it is, the common thread is that the ‘accepted truth’ is that once we find ourselves in those circumstances it is hard if not impossible to get out; to do better.

As soon as we buy in to this ‘generally accepted truth’, we find ourselves in a position that can spark all kinds of non-productive emotions. At first, it may rob us of initiative to do something about it. It can take away our sense of hope. And pretty soon we may come to ask ourselves why we are in this particular predicament. Why is this being done to us? Why are we being punished by the Universe?

Another question is “Why have we accepted this as (our) truth?”

If ever there was a time when we can find all the information we could possibly need to determine whether something is factually true or false; whether there are alternative perspectives, it is now!
And it is up to us to discern whether what we are told is to be accepted as our personal truth; whether we are willing to allow the opinions of others to shape and mold our lives…

In truth, there are no right or wrong answers. Each person is unique, and each circumstance is different. Yet it is a good idea to, every once in a while, see if the things we have accepted as truth actually ring true to us.
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Question everything…

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Question everything… and hold on to what is truly yours…

There are many things we do each day without question for many different reasons. Whether it is because we have always done them, because we have committed to do them, because we were told to do them, or because we want to do them; at the end of the day we just do them.

In just doing all the things we do on a regular day, we may even feel like we are a bit too busy ~ even scattered ~ for comfort. And yet when we only think about stepping back and doing less, that in itself may seem like an impossibility.

So perhaps it is time to start questioning yourself why you are doing the things you do… To purposely and consciously enter into that inner dialogue in order to gain insight into our very own, personal ‘reasons why’.

A good way to do that is to one day wake up in the morning and decide to question everything that day. Just one day in which you question every decision you make, every choice, every action. It really doesn’t matter whether the decision is for or against something; just ask yourself why you decide for or against it…

At first it may seem a bit ridiculous.
Why am I getting up? Because I have to, the alarm clock went off, and I have hit the snooze button twice already. But do I want to get up? Am I rested? Would I rather sleep in? And why? Am I still tired? Well, actually, I am rested. I need to get up in order to get to my job on time. Okay.

But pretty soon it will become clear that we do things because…
We do things the way we were taught to do them when we were young, never asking ourselves if they are at least applicable to our lives as we live them. We do things because we ‘have to’, without realizing that we ourselves are the ones calling the shots. Or we stop short on doing something because ‘we can’t’, while we in all honesty and likelihood have the ability to do it, but rather don’t want to do it, don’t feel like doing it, or simply choose to not do it. And then there are things we may do because there is something else we truly do not want to do, something we are resisting mightily. So if we fill our time with running errands, there will be no time left (again) to do this one thing we are resisting doing.

Taking just one day every once in a while to question everything you do, will allow you to gain insight into your priorities, hold on to the things you really want to do, the things that are truly yours; and to let the rest go…
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Overcoming the past

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I have fairly vivid memories of being hunted down. I had heard of others who had been captured and received unspeakable punishments, until death would come ~ salvation at last…
And now I am running through the forest. I can hear the hounds coming closer; the mob yelling and screaming as they follow their lead. Suddenly it is over; there is nowhere to run, the dogs are too close, and moments later I am taken prisoner.
The public trial is a couple of days later. The outcome is a foregone conclusion; if I would have had any hope at all, it is squashed quickly. The mob is angry and aggressive; some of the loudest  voices belong to young men whose mothers I have guided through their difficult births, and who I have brought herbs to heal in case of disease or accident…
I’m not certain if days or weeks had passed, when I finally welcomed Death’s embrace. It was over, the pain gone, and with a last look at my broken body I turned to the Light…

I have since learned that it actually did happen; it is part of our history. It didn’t happen just to me, but to countless women. Especially those who could heal others, and midwives. The wise women… And it wasn’t all that long ago ~ at least in the grand scheme of things…

Having chosen a comparable path, a similar direction in life this time around, these memories have been something I have had to come to terms with. From the anger about how that could have happened to me back then, to the fear of whether it would happen again ~ even though this is a different time. And then the indignation that this time around I certainly should be treated a lot better than that this time around!

Until I woke up one morning and realized that as long as I would allow me to be tied down by what has happened in the past, it would be pretty much impossible to move on into my future.
History, though factually correct, didn’t matter today. All there is is this point in time, this life, and whatever I choose to make of it. The world doesn’t owe me anything; it is a clean slate and it is all up to me to write on it.


As it turns out, we don’t learn all that much from history either. My memories are of the inquisition, but even now the establishment is taking a stand against healing that is not related to ‘modern medicine’, big pharmacy, and consequently ‘big bucks’… If I would publish what a remedy is for, I would put myself at risk.
Again.
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Today

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Today I keep thinking of Winnie the Pooh; more precisely about this little discussion he has with Piglet:
   “What day is it?” asked Pooh
   “It’s today” squeaked Piglet
   “My favorite day” said Pooh

It is something that is so easily forgotten, that today is that time that we have, right here, right in front of us. Yesterday is history, and tomorrow is yet to come. But today is here to be experienced, to be lived to the fullest.
After all we never know what live will bring, what problems we may have to face some other day; or even if there will be another day at all… Therefore, today should be our favorite day, every day.

So today things didn’t happen quite as expected. Of course, life hardly ever does. We can make plans, and take steps toward making those plans happen, yet sometimes, when it gets to be ‘today’ things happen, plans change. This may well be because we get distracted.
The question then becomes why we allow ourselves to be distracted. Is there anything not quite the way it should be with our plans, or with the way we propose to make our plans reality? Because sometimes those distractions are really pointers that while our plans are well thought out, there is something that can make the end result even better for us than we had ever anticipated.
Then again, other times distractions are just that, distractions. Excuses that ‘happen’ and that are giving us a reason to not do those things we had intended to do today.

And then there are those days that our flow of events is interrupted by an event so momentous, that it takes our attention, our focus right off whatever we were doing. It may be something that we are directly involved in, or can be something that grabs hold of us because it is happening close to us; close to where we work or live.
When something like that occurs, it just stops us in our tracks; it makes us reevaluate our priorities in life. And it can make us grateful for today. Grateful that today we can bask in the sunlight, enjoy our families, and make plans for other ‘todays’…

So, from that perspective, today is where it is at.
Today we can actually do things ~ as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow. Today we can either take or reject what life has to offer. Today we can make choices that may affect how we experience our lives, not only today, but also for the days to come.

So I agree with Pooh, today is my favorite day!
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Holding on

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If there is any advice that feels a tiny bit problematic at least, it is the advice to ‘let go of that you no longer need in your life’. It is something that is relatively easy when you are talking ‘stuff’. When the new house doesn’t have a lawn, there is no use in holding on to the old lawn mower. Or, as we may have lost weight, holding on to the old wardrobe seems futile, if not counterproductive. And so we let go of the items we no longer need.

When we are looking at experiences we may have had way back when, or emotional situations that have left their mark on our lives, ‘letting go of it’ isn’t quite as straightforward or easy.
We can make a conscious decision to place it in the past ~ where it belongs ~ so that it can no longer be a part of our lives today. Often this will work, especially when we combine that with exercises of affirmations that keep reinforcing our decision for as long as it takes for the result to be ‘natural’. For us to get to that point where we can truly say that it is no longer part of our lives in this moment.
A lot of times a process like that won’t work. No matter how hard we try, the experience, the emotions keep popping up; usually at times when we are least expecting them.

So perhaps, rather than working at ‘letting go’, the real question is why we are still holding on?

What is it in our lives that prompts us to hold on to things, feelings, experiences that are no longer useful to us? Is it a sense of security? Or something that we have always held true because of how we respected the person who told us it was so? Is it a cultural belief on how to behave as a ‘good person’? There are all kinds of reasons why we hold on to things, feelings, and experiences; most of them personal, all of them individual…
And until we know our own, personal reason why we are holding on to something, it is going to be hard to let go of.

The other thing that makes the question even more difficult to answer is that there is hardly ever a nice, concrete, logical reason why we are holding on to something. More often it has to do with how things, situations, or even people are connected in our minds; in our memories…

That being said, it is probably worth the effort to ponder the question; ‘If I have a hard time letting go, what is the reason for me to hold on to it?’
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Tiredness

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In this point in time where there are polarities wherever we look, it is like pretty much everything has pros and cons, for-s and against-s, even ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sides to it. At the same time it doesn’t make anything good or bad, in all reality; it is just our perspective at what is happening. And it seems that we are much more willing to take a stand on one side or the other of the issue than we have been in the past.

The same is true for being tired.
There is ‘good’ tiredness, the sense of being tired after a hard days work or play. A feeling of tiredness that is connected to any kind of activity, be it physical, mental, emotional, or even spiritual.
And then there is ‘bad’ tiredness. Being tired without having done anything, leaving nothing to show for it. It is a kind of being tired that is often connected to stress in some form. Perhaps the stress of a deadline at work, or the stress of being in a situation where we feel pushed into a corner without seeing a way out.

While ‘good’ tiredness is often remedied with a good nights sleep from which we are waking up refreshed and ready to conquer a new day; ‘bad’ tiredness has a tendency to linger on. And if we don’t take steps to turn it around, it may lead us on a downward spiral where each day seems heavier, and more difficult than the day before. Pretty soon even the simplest tasks become mountains we have to climb in order to get where we want to go. And if the ‘bad’ tiredness is permitted to take over completely, it may leave us strung out and depressed…
This does suggest that in today’s world a lot of people who feel depressed may feel that way because they have been in a situation that has put a strain on them for too long, rather than facing any obvious mental or emotional difficulty.

The thing to remember is that they are polarities of the same energy.
And while that in it self doesn’t solve the problem of ‘bad’ tiredness; it does give us a way out! The most obvious way out may well be to seek out activities that are related to ‘good’ tiredness. Like taking a little walk every day, getting yourself a ten minute exercise program (even if that is just swinging your arms, or sitting down and getting up from a dining room chair).

Any physical movement will help bring movement in other areas of our lives, and ultimately help us to restore the balance between the polarities.
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Fear and stress

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Fear is not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing, and in a sense the same is true for stress. There are many situations that can bring stress into our lives, situations we like or deem to be ‘good’ like first date butterflies, or situations that we feel we can do without, like being overcommitted in some shape or form. Whatever the cause of the stress, it will heighten our awareness and make us more vigilant. On the other hand, it is a state of being that, while it can help us in a short term, we shouldn’t accept as part of our lives in the long term as it can also damage our health.

From that perspective there are definite similarities between fear and stress.
When they are connected to something that is happening right there and then, something we are personally involved in that we can handle; chances are that the fear and associated stress in that moment will help us make the best choices in that split second, and take the right action in order to come out at the other end unharmed.

However, when they are connected to a situation that is out of our control, a situation that is not imminent, a situation that is played up and fed by the media as something that may happen, both fear and the associated stress can keep building in our systems. It will take away our discernment as to when to act quickly and decisively; yet even when we do, the stress won’t go away…

The result may well be that because of the extended period in which we experience feelings of fear and stress, our immune systems start weakening. Making us more susceptible to disease. And when we are in a general state of unease, or dis-ease, we may not be quite as aware or vigilant as we would normally be, or perhaps go to the other side of the spectrum and become extremely aware and hypervigilant. We may not sleep as well, and still feel restless…
And bit by bit, over time, we deplete the natural resources our bodies have to deal with things, to be healthy and happy.

Perhaps the best way to deal with the fear and stress that are brought on by events that are happening on a worldwide scale, yet are not affecting us on a personal level, is to send Light to all those that are involved. Independent if we personally agree the situation, the actions taken and how things are playing out; send Light. Pray for the best outcome for them, for us and for the world in general.

And then let it, and the fear and stress associated with it, go…
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Fear

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There are two kinds of fear; the fear of what is righting front of us, like the fear of being run over by a car when we are crossing the road, and the fear of things that may or may not come our way in the future, like an epidemic that is roaring its ugly head on a different continent…
And while the first experience of fear is immediate and related to our ‘fight or flight’ reactions, the second experience of fear has a tendency to creep into our system slowly while at the same time fails to show us a way out. The experience of this type of fear is often accompanied with the sense that we cannot do anything about it, and therefore there is no safe place for us to go, nothing we can do on a personal level to escape impending doom.

The immediate fear is in most cases very helpful to our survival in the world we life in. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand and starts ruling our lives, it prompts an evaluation and reaction that prevents us from doing something that could put us into danger. Like just walking out into traffic. It also comes up right when it is needed and dissipates fairly quickly after that. Granted, in some cases when we have had a ‘close call’ it may take a couple of days for us to overcome that pang of fear. But as long as we celebrate the good outcome, and not keep rehashing the close call in our memories, chances are we are back to being ourselves the next day ~ feeling fine, and hopefully a little wiser as we may have learned from the situation…
The feeling of fear and the associated stress have gone from our systems.

The sense of fear of future events isn’t by any means as straightforward. It is related to the thought that says ‘that could happen to me, to us’. It is a fear that is often fed, not by the threat itself ~ be it economic, violence, an epidemic or whatever ~ but rather by what we see, hear or read about it on the news. It is presented in a way that we need to insulate ourselves from that situation, and in order to do so we need to take big, sometimes worldwide, actions. We need to guard our borders such that this thing we are afraid of cannot enter.
At the same time, we are generally told that there is nothing we can do about it on a personal level. The natural reaction then, is for the fear to linger in our systems, and for stress about this situation that is well outside of our realm of influence to keep building.

So while an immediate fear can help us to stay alive, the fear of future events doesn’t really do anything for us, except for adding stress to our already stressful lives…
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