Ah can’t wait, finally we get a romantic weekend away booked for the 6-9th of August in a rustic little isolated cabin with my wife. Going to be great, since we had to cancel last time with a lock down. Oh what, another lock down? No, Really?
Hmmm, that is like the 4th time we have been stopped out from a little get away (2 by ourselves and 2 with Sienna to go outback riding horses). Now this post is not a rant against the lock downs, that’s a loaded gun… And I totally get that while here I am talking about a weekend away there are many who are out of work. So this is not a whinge post.
No, it’s a post about how do we maintain a sense of stability and happiness in the modern world when we have expectations plucked from our grasp. Expectations that up until 18 months ago were a given, unless something random and crazy event went down. But the modern world, making plans, organising events and setting goals can be an incredibly challenging experience.
Which can lead us to states of disappointment, despair, anger, depression, frustration and just a whole world of negative states of mind.
And understandably so. Life 2020 onwards has been super challenging.
So did I get pissed off about the weekend away?zI was sitting on the hill in our backyard, having my coffee and doing a little writing before the day started as Si yelled out the door, hey Dad, your weekend aways off, lock down extended.
I gazed at her, hmmm. Okay thanks Si.
Well that sucks, but moving on… I’ve come to really adopt a beautiful practice from the Vedic philosophy (certainly not exclusive to it) which has altered my response to life. So what is this amazing little pearl of advice from thousands of years ago?
“To have a preference but non attachment”
So what’s that mean? Good question, lets hash it out a little. I certainly had a preference to go away with my wife, I’ve been super busy this year and some down time away from building and teaching would have been awesome. Now if I was attached to the outcome of going away, where does that leave me? Up the creek without a paddle. Disappointed and pissed off.
Whereas without attachment, I am like okay, no control over that so let’s move on and hope we can reschedule soon.
It is really a case of just surrendering to what life is putting in front of us at that given moment. Rather than wishing it to be the way we want it to be. And if you are banking on controlling the uncontrollable, well I wish you well and double your meditation, you will need it…
But if you can learn to move in the direction of that which we desire and have a preference for, but do not hold too tightly the outcomes and accept the deviations as they come, life is so much more fluid.
And when we are in that space, we remain calm, creative, intelligent. Ingredients essential for navigating the troubled waters our world currently finds itself in. And from there you can shift and make adjustments on the fly and who knows what can come from it.
We can only all hope that regardless of our thoughts or beliefs of what we are experiencing, that our preference is to come out of this time with a more loving and accepting experience of our humanity!
Related Tag: Brisbane Meditation Centre