High or Low?
Saturday, April 14th, 2007Went to one of my favourite coffee shops today hoping to get a seat outside, sit in the sun and read my paper. Guess what? All the outside seating had been taken! Hardly surprising considering how nice the weather was. So I just had to sit inside where it was a bit stuffy and noisy. Now this may not be a very exciting event but what did it tell me?
Sometimes what we imagine we are going to get is not always what we end up with. I had a very clear picture in my mind of enjoying myself in the sun and spending a pleasant hour or so outside. It is very easy to expect everything in our lives to go perfectly to plan and then be left wondering why events did not fit with our own idea of how they should have gone. Whether or not I get to sit outside on a sunny day is not that important but if a small disappointment leaves us feeling cheated how do we cope with other more important changes?
It makes a lot of sense to plan but life does not always follow the plans we have set out for ourselves. Life is not static but throws up surprises and changes often when we least expect it. We need to be fluid and adaptable, to be able to go with the flow when things change. If not we leave ourselves open to feeling cheated, stuck and disappointed on a permanent basis. If we imagine it is our given right to enjoy that table in the sun every time we want it how do we cope when we don’t get it?
Rumi, the Persian poet said:
“Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralysed”
He wrote that in the 13th. century. The question is do we paralyse our enjoyment and connection with life because we have been denied something we want or can we allow ourselves freedom to adapt and go with the flow of life?