Friday 17 August 2012

Control and Choice

A friend of mine is going through a hard time at the moment and is questioning ' the point of life and also questioning the point of practice saying " Life can come and give you a knock when you least expect it, you have no control over what will happen, so what is the point of all your practice  ?  It won't save you from life's problems."
I think she is missing the point (please excuse my pun ).
 My practice not  to avoid life's problems ( I can't avoid them and wouldn't want to anyway ). I practice and read and study so I have a choice in how I deal with life's  challenges. By developing the witness,  through  reflecting on how relationships work,  by mindfully practicing tac chi , I become more conscious in each moment of my life.
 I have noticed that this gives me more choices in how I respond in life. Whereas  before I would have shouted or slammed the door and walked away in an argument , now I can  l quieten my mind and listen to the other point of view. I have the time internally to respond rather than merely reacting without thought of consequences.

 When we can slow down our responses we can allow people their ' road rage ' , we can move over and let them off hoping their day will improve , instead of taking their action personally and being sucked in to their stress.
When we exercise our choice and take Control of how our day is going , we assume power in our lives not power over what will happen but power over our response.  As we do this we lose the fear of what life will throw at us and gain curiosity about how we will handle life's next challenge.

 You see I believe all life's challenges  have a purpose , I believe that one of the reasons we are here is to grow and develop , to expand our consciousness, to engage with each other and help each other to grow.
Life gives us the exact challenges we need for the next step in our journey of self discovery.


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