"Flow..................."

"People don't do what we want, things don't happen quickly enough, the weather doesn't cooperate, our bodies don't cooperate. Why are these moments so painful? Because our minds are focused on a static, unchanging, me-centric picture while the dynamic unfolding of a broader life continues around us. There is nothing wrong with expectations per se, as it's appropriate to set goals and then work properly towards their fruition. The instant we feel pain over life not going "my way," however, our expectations have clearly taken an improper turn. Any moment you feel resistance or pain, look for the hidden expectation. Practice giving yourself over to what "you" don't want. Let the line at the store be long. Let the other person interrupt you. Let the nervousness make you shake. Be where your body is, not where your mind is trying to take you to take you."… Guy Finley

The quote comes from the “Whiskey River” link on my sidebar and the author is a well-known self-help writer, philosopher, and spiritual teacher. His religious faith wasn’t mentioned; but, regardless, his advice shared here makes a lot of sense to me, the practice he brings forth having long been a course adopted and followed by this old man. Perfection has never been achieved. It has, though, saved me much stress along the way, especially since coming to Christ forty-one years ago and realizing that, no matter what happens, the best place to put it is in His hands. Small things become opportunities, sometimes even a door opened unto witness. Big events are out of my reach anyhow, so why not give them to Him? The hardest part of it all, of course, was learning my opinion isn’t worth much. That’s a point I still like to argue at times. Left to cook in my own brain, it tends to bubble and boil, the whole concoction festering and polluting all that I am. Religion, politics, my job, humanity at large whose manners are negligible, whose reasoning comes from another planet, their views making absolutely no sense from my perspective: The mind, for all of us, in many ways is a battlefield, one we defend, trusting our ourselves to be the best judge of truth. When we are willing to abandon that throne and enter into a relationship where He, alone, embodies all aspects of that word, peace, and grace, and resurrection begin to meet us in the next step, whatever it brings……