I was at the Arboretum yesterday enjoying a perfect Fall day – mid 60’s, slight breeze, plenty of sunshine, and a brilliant blue sky. I was sitting at a pond soaking up the beauty and a dragonfly landed near my feet. In Native American teaching dragonfly symbolizes illusion. I let my mind wander to see what insights would come to me about illusions.
Struggle is the illusion that we cling to. There is a saying that where our attention goes, energy flows. So, in that context when we cling to struggle we actually reinforce the struggle. When we tell our stories of struggle we give power to those illusions. The stories are entertaining and we can gather sympathy from our friends, but the reality is that it only reinforces the struggle.
When you look at physics the definition of inertia is – an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. If struggle and the stories we tell about our struggle are the object then the outside force will be something that we do differently. The outside force can be your intention, your awareness. When you notice yourself revving up to tell a story of struggle yet one more time, stop and think about how you could engage that story differently or better yet, not tell the story. Remember that the struggle is the illusion and that you can change how you interact with it.
Yesterday I decided to try an experiment. When I notice myself struggling about something I am going to shift it and not let it get below the level of interesting. By that, I mean I won’t give it the emotional charge that I have in the past. I will be the observer. I am giving up telling the entertaining stories of struggle. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and let you know what I experience. I would love to hear from you, too.
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