What does it feel like to be in harmony with the Universe?
It is the same feeling as when you float on water.
If you are tense, or if you resist the water,
you will sink.
If you surrender to the water,
the water will support you and you will float.
That is the feeling,
and that is how you harmonize yourself with the Universe.
Let the tension go and float!
"I have learned silence from the talkative,
tolerance from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind;
yet, strangely,
I am ungrateful to those teachers."
- Kahlil Gibran
It's amazing how much can be learned from the things that rub you up the wrong way, mostly because they are rubbing the wrong way and causing friction. Friction causes resistance - resistance leads to irritation - and irritation is bound to cause break down; they meet with obstacles in their path - and loose sight of the real objectives of life. If we go through life fighting, resisting, opposing, complaining, arguing, we are bound to meet obstacles in our path. By putting up opposition and strife, a person can expect plenty more to come their way.
I was six when I learned to swim. My older brother and sister called me to jump into the deep end of the swimming pool. When I found I could not stand I panicked, but my sister told me not to fight against the water or it would drag me down; I should just let the water hold me up, and in being calm, it would do just that. I let go of my fear and, amazingly enough, floated. Before too long I was swimming.
Water is very powerful. If you have ever seen a river come down in flood, you will know how it can sweep everything away in it’s path. Yet water, as an element, is perfectly non-resistant. A little stream doesn’t waste time with obstacles on its way; it works its way around many bends and turns, but every bend takes it nearer its goal.
So, if we strive for a course of non-resistance, like the stream that becomes a river, we will eventually reach the ocean of our desires. When the steam is small, it winds its way through the countryside. To begin with it may struggle and have a hard time as it works its way around obstacles in its path. But as it grows stronger in force and volume to become a river, its path is more direct and there are fewer obstacles in its path. When we start out in life we are like a stream, working around obstacles in our path, but as we grow in wisdom and experience, we become like the river; our course is more direct, our understanding of life is deeper as we reach out towards the ocean of our ultimate objectives.
What happens, though, when you dam a stream? The water resists the obstruction and remains behind the dam. So it is for you; if you resist a situation, it will remain with you. If the water tries to flow around the dam, it still follows gravity and flows back to the riverbed. This is like trying to run away from a situation; like a shadow it will follow you and meet with you again. However, if you ignore the difficulties of a situation and find a way to deal with it, the time will come when the difficulties seem small, or they may even be surmounted. In every situation there is an element of good; find it, and by accepting it, more good emerges, just as by accepting that the water will allow you to float if you accept its ability to hold you.
We can choose to put up a fight and come to grief, or we can choose the path of least resistance and, like little fishies, slip through the nets put out to catch us. The choice is our; nobody can make that choice for us. Remember the stream and how determined it is to reach the sea. Be that determined to reach and realize all the good there is waiting for you in your sea of fulfilment. Take the path of least resistance; float down the river of life, avoiding obstacles, or at least finding the simplest ways to get past them. Merge your goodness with the good that is seaking you. Remove the obstacles in your path with blessings and understanding so they are no longer stumbling blocks, but a stepping stones, allowing you to reach the good that is waiting for you.
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