No Way Out

Sometimes I like to think that I am further down this path than I really am. Of course, this ignores a couple of pretty important things.

First, there is no path. In this moment, we can't find a past or a future, except in our thoughts. So the only path that we see is literally the one that we are creating right now.

Second, whatever is happening is what is happening. No more or less.

Sometimes, life throws you for a loop. It's just part of the experience of being human. And when things happen that you don't want, sometimes your thoughts start spinning. You may be in denial, or angry, or depressed. You may be confused. You may doubt that you are in the right job or working for the right company. You may want to quit or run away or hide.

None of this is pleasant, and our instinct is to do something, anything, to make our experience stop. We desperately want it to change.

What do we do when this happens?

Despite our instincts, we stay. We do our best to fully open to the experience.

When you think about it, you really don't have a choice. On some level, you are going to experience what you need to until you don't need to any more.

But when you embrace the experience, when you welcome it, all that channeled up energy and resistance is free to move around and do its thing. Whatever needs to happen might happen a little faster. You might be able to relax a bit, even to laugh.

And you might see that we all get caught sometimes.

One of my favorite Zen sayings is "if you can conceive of a Buddha, you will be obstructed by that very Buddha." And if you think that you are free, that very freedom can turn right around and trap you. And the only escape is to see that there is no freedom and no trap.

Jeff