1999-2019: Celebrating 20 Years of Ripples
Ripples #1045: Yielding to Life!
June 3, 2019
PEBBLE
Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place you can experience the flow of life is the Now, so to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation.
-Eckhart Tolle, shared by Giselle in Cincinnati, OH
BOULDER
Become still, quiet the mind, sit like the mountain and sky—stable and undivided in the face of everything that comes up. Open to the unpleasant part, the down-in-the-dumps part, the making-mistakes part, the prolonged-aching-in-the-heart part. The not knowing and the bouts of joy. Become one in the same as yourself, or “one with” your life.
—Diane Musho Hamilton, “Practice Is the Way”
shared by Lorene in North Royalton, OH
PONDER
How are you, my friend?
Good? Bad? Inbetween?
You are the only one facing the precise combination of good stuff and hard stuff and inbetween stuff that is in your life right now, but I’m pretty sure that every single one of the people reading this issue of Ripples is struggling with SOME combination of good and hard and inbetween.
I admit that it can be frustrating that I don’t get much of a say about WHAT lands on my plate or WHEN it arrives. And some days are just YuckyDuckyDOOOOO! Still, whenever possible I try to focus on the choices I do have. That includes being in charge of how I respond to the challenges that come up, and it also includes reminding myself of the internal reserves of strength as well as the external sources of support that I’ve built up over this lifetime of dealing with GOOD and BAD and INBETWEEN. Remembering this usually helps me access my best self (or at least a better self than I’m sometimes displaying), and also invites me to ask for help when needed.
If you’re struggling today, I hope you can find a moment to pause and breathe and yield. If things are at least okay, maybe you can take a moment to pause and breathe and savor. And as always: keep an eye out for someone else who needs a lift. Sometimes a small gesture ends up making a big difference, and even a brief focus on someone else’s challenges can often help you put yours in a larger context.
Get ready…get set…yield!
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
