I Hold it lightly.
The more I complain about the Present Moment while trying to change it, the more I energize what is, thereby keeping it in place. I give it more sticking power.
The same is true with trying to make something—presumably new and better than what is—happen. The harder I try, the more I energize the absence of the change I want to see. “The absence of the change I want to see” is the Present Moment, the “what is now” which doesn’t include what I want.
So the harder I try, the more the Present Moment recreates itself in my next now, and the next, and the next.
So profound is this secret, it is core to all master-level pursuits:
Auto racing: Indy car drivers are taught that if their car is out of control and they’re careening toward a wall, they should look in the direction they want to go, not the direction they’re going. From an edmunds.com article on advanced driving [Bracket statements added for clarity]:
“Avoiding accidents: Racing drivers know that if a car spins out in front of them [what is], it’s best to keep looking at where you want to go [what one wants], not at the car in front of you or even in the direction in which the car is already going [that’s momentum]. When you look in the right direction [look at what you want], the car goes in the right direction, a reminder of the way in which vision [desire] and car control [manifestation] are inextricably intertwined.”
Master-level martial arts: Every master-level martial artist knows resisting an attackers attack energizes the attack, making it more effective. The more you redirect attacker-energy in your favor, i.e. not resisting the attack, but flowing with it, the more powerful you become. Nearly all martial arts emphasize mastering this skill.
Personal survival: Riptides are dangerous. What makes them doubly so is if you try to fight your way out of it once you get caught in one. Swim against the force pulling you out and you’ll likely drown from exhaustion. I love this description from the website Art of Manliness:
Don’t try to swim against the rip. Deaths that result from riptides aren’t caused by the current pulling someone under; instead, the person typically panics, starts trying to swim against the rip to get back to shore, becomes exhausted, and drowns. An 8-feet-per-second riptide is so strong that not even Michael Phelps, even when he had that amazing mustache, could swim against it. Don’t kick against the pricks. Swim parallel to the shore. Instead of swimming against the rip current, you want to swim perpendicular to it, in either direction. Rip currents are typically only 20-100 feet wide. Once you leave the rip, swim at an angle away from it towards the shore. Go with the flow. If you don’t have the swimming skills or energy to swim out of the rip, float on your back and go with the current. Just imagine you’re taking a spin on the Lazy River at the water park you went to as a kid. Once the rip current dissipates, you can do the parallel swim thing or try to signal to the lifeguard or someone else that you’re in need of help.
See that part about “go with the flow”? Exactly.
So what does all this mean regarding creating my Charmed Life? Good question. And here’s where the secret waits patiently for discovery: Hold it lightly, my friends.
Here’s how I do it:
- I pay no attention to the world around me if I feel resistance about it. What is, is what’s becoming. Focusing on what is only gives me more of that. Instead, I pay attention to the world I prefer seeing. When I do, I feel lighter, as I let go of stress I carry around being frustrated and angry about what I see on tv, read online or in print, or hear from well meaning friends.
- I Create in my mind what I would prefer to have that would replace what is. I don’t worry about details. Instead I think about how that new world feels. Fun? Pleasurable? Interesting? Adventurous? Exciting? Then I hold this feeling as long as I can as often as I can throughout the week.
- I hold lightly to those feelings, let them generate momentum. I’m light and easy about all this. I play around with the vision I created in the previous step. I let go of any thoughts of “making it happen” or “doing something in the world” that will lead to this vision. My holding onto this vision is more powerful than action because in the Moment of Becoming, what I want already has sufficient momentum to fulfill itself.
- I’m open to inspiration. Successful with the above steps, I receive impulses that compel action. I follow that. See where it leads.
- I do less, play more. I replace all that time I spend reading, talking, and thinking about what is with time spent having fun. I follow my passions, pursue a fun hobby, develop a new skill, meet new people, go out on walks—whatever is fun. These periods allow my mind and the Universe to collaborate, to create opportunities for me to discover pathways to the world I envisioned in step two.
These five steps contain the power of creation. In a little time I found not only pathways leading me to opportunities, people, events, and ideas that support creating the world I want to see, my life now is more fun, easier and lighter.
When all is said and done, what I want is that last part. I want my life to be fun, easy and light. Truth is, I can have that now, without anything changing in the world around me. But it is oh so much fun creating new realities, then seeing them come true.