How Being Out of Your Mind Can Be a Good Thing
A great deal of emphasis has been put on rationalization, analysis and logic and, though these things definitely have their place and advantages, they can very often be detrimental to achieving your goals.
Life has a certain flow to it; you could imagine this flow as a river, if you like. This river represents the invisible energies acting in our lives to help us achieve what we want and need. The energy river is always moving in a particular direction and we are floating upon it. As we desire a particular thing, the river gathers energy and carries us toward our goal. However, since the river is invisible and we don’t even realize we’re on it, we focus our attention on figuring out how we’re going to reach that goal we so desperately want. We spend hours, days, weeks, or months planning, analyzing, rationalizing, and trying so hard to figure out how we’re going to reach our destination. More often than not, we decide we must work extra hard to attain this goal and we begin to paddle up stream, making very slow and exhausted progress and feeling very frustrated at how hard it is to get what we want.
You see, by spending so much time in our minds, analyzing, rationalizing and planning, we end up creating so much more work for ourselves. We turn our boats around and paddle up stream, exhausting ourselves and wondering just how long it’s going to take to reach that goal, if we ever get there at all. By being in our minds so much, we quite literally logic things to death. We don’t give our dreams the chance to grow and live because we’re so busy piling limitations and expectations on top of them…they suffocate and die under the pressure.
Be out of your mind! Decide what it is you’d like to experience and then stop thinking about it. Don’t rationalize it. Don’t analyze it. Don’t plan it. Feed it with love and excitement and then just let it grow in its own way and its own time. Don’t try to force things into place. Life isn’t about bending things to your will; it’s about harmonizing and co-creating with the universe. You can have anything you want but don’t assume that you know the best way or time for it to reach you. This is the result of rational thinking. “If I don’t make it happen, it won’t.” How do you know?
The Taoists practice the art of Wu Wei, or “natural action”. It is the art of doing without doing or effortless effort. Trees grow, planets revolve around the sun, animals hibernate, and birds fly south without planning it all out and rationalizing the best times or patterns of growth or orbit. They just do it naturally. Human beings can do the same. If you can detach from the need to rationalize, you will see that your life has a certain flow to it. The things you need come to you when the time is right, not necessarily when you decide they should be there. As they appear, use them to further your progress. When you can use them no more, wait and allow the next set of opportunities to come. This way, you follow a sure path to your goal that doesn’t require you to paddle up stream.
Get out of your mind and take the path of least resistance. Know that the river of life is carrying you in your preferred direction; just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Blessings,
J.H.
