Saying “Yes” to “No”
I was reading Eckhart Tolle‘s ONENESS WITH ALL LIFE the other night and noted this:
“The truth is that you need to say yes to suffering before you can transcend it.”
It dawned on me that you have to say yes to all pain in order to transcend it. The same is true for any unwanted condition or state of mind.
The situation must become a reality in your world rather than a part of your world that you are denying. Once it is recognized for what it is, a reality, it is much more quickly transcended.
The denying mind acts as a thief of relief.
The longer we say no; the longer we suffer.
Let’s take the elusive state that people constantly aspire to – happiness. We have been conditioned to rail against its counterpart, unhappiness. “It shouldn’t be this way.” The constantly overlooked fact is that it is this way. All of our time is spent wishing it weren’t.
Our angle of view needs to change in order to change our situation. The new national pastime, piss and moan, isn’t working.
This doesn’t mean you cannot be empathetic or sympathetic to an unwanted situation, or upset by it. Those are natural reactions for most.
The trick is to recognize the reaction and pivot towards peace. Reminds me of a story . . .
Many years ago I was attending a training seminar for broadcasting managers. I forget the guy who was conducting the training but he did say one thing I remember and use ’til this day. He was pointing out how we would have many employee problems cross our paths on a regular basis, many with high drama. He said the first and foremost rule in dealing with the situation was to “shorten the storm.”
Storms cause damage and the longer you let them hang around, the more devastation you will deal with.
A storm lengthener is saying no. We always say no to peace when we continually piece together the reasons it shouldn’t be the way it is.
The acceptance of our reality is the first step in shortening our storm. Anything but acceptance is a diversion and will keep the dark clouds over our heads.
The Grasshopper calls it saying “Yes” to “No.”
Like the old Ella Fitzgerald song goes INTO EACH LIFE SOME RAIN MUST FALL. If you pretend it’s not there or you repeatedly curse and bemoan it, it will become like a weather high pressure system and hold your storm in place.
Acceptance is necessary for transcendence. And for those of us who have difficulty with accepting things as they are, we can start with baby steps.
Paraphrasing Colin Tipping, author of RADICAL FORGIVENESS,
“If you find that you cannot accept something, accept that you cannot accept it.”
This practice gives us practice with accepting.
The more we say “Yes” to “No,” the more we let life flow.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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