Finding a Wei Around - 8

Allowing things to unfold in a natural way seems so unnatural for most of us. In western society, we're taught from birth to take the bull by the horns, that decisiveness and aggressiveness will win the day. Conversely, we're taught that passivity and reflection will land us at the bottom of the societal heap and may well lead to victimization. So, we go charging off into the world in the vain attempt to try to mold it to our will.

Unfortunately, the more we try to force things to unfold into the shape we want, the more unhappy and stressed out we become. This causes us to try to force things even harder, yet the outcome tends to remain the same. Our lives become treadmills that we can't seem to slow down or jump off of.

What I find most interesting is that the result of the effort to force things doesn't seem to change our reaction. Whether these efforts are successful or not, we feel the same amount of discontent and imbalance.

If our efforts are successful, we're filled with anxiety and tension because we're ever mindful that things can change in an instant. So, we stress about keeping the status quo where we want it to stay. On the other hand, if our efforts are unsuccessful, we're filled with anxiety and tension because of our personal failure or people are out to get us or the stars are aligned against us.

It is ONLY when we quit trying to force our will that we are set free. We allow ourselves the freedom to flow which ever way the water moves us.
~ written by moi in Real Life Tao: The Wu Wei Way ~

Go here to read the intro to this thematic series of posts.