Trying to make something happen originates in the mind; allowing something to happen originates in Presence, in the Present Moment – the Universe expressing its magnificence through you.
In trying to make something happen, there’s an element of needing to control events, situations and people. There may be intense effort, frustration when things don’t turn out quite as envisioned. If you are very stubborn you will refuse to give up – an admirable quality – perseverance in the face of the darkest odds. If you are not so stubborn, you may be tempted to give up on your dream and quit, and feel inadequate and a failure – yet again – or tell yourself it didn’t matter anyway.
You can use all of your senses very intensely in your efforts to create something. In fact it is advisable to imagine something you want to achieve in as much detail as you can – though the caution is not to focus too much on the actual form of the dream, as to focus on the essence of how will feel.
Creativity in Action
Creativity in action is being first centered and immersed in ‘I AM’ energy and then allowing that energy to flow through a clear mind. A clear mind provides the structure for creativity in the way the banks of the river provide the structure for the water to flow.
Then there is the mind that is clouded with tangled weeds of learned concepts, opinions and beliefs of how things ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ be. This means that even though an idea might spring from ‘I AM’ energy, it gets caught in the confusion of the clouded mind, in the weeds. The energy can’t flow freely and that clouded mind takes over and TRIES to make things happen. It has lost touch with the essence of the original idea and has only itself upon which to draw on for energy.
If you are using only the clouded mind to create, setbacks will be discouraging and disheartening. You will mount more and more determined efforts. Or give up. Either way, disappointment, frustration and failure. Cracks appear in the river bed through which ‘I AM’ energy dissipates.
An Alternative Way
But … what if all that trying and beating yourself up was a lesson to teach you a more fulfilling way. The way of the Tao. The way that is natural and certainly a lot easier – that of being in alignment with Life Itself.
Setting the clouded mind aside is not easy. It has deeply rooted beliefs in the unconscious – so many opinions about how things ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ occur, what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong. It is driven to see action and completion. Often in that drive the journey itself is overlooked, and invaluable experiences missed.
Letting go of the need to control and allowing Life Itself to flow through a clear mind requires an inner faith in something greater than mind, in a force you know yourself to be when you are in the ‘flow’. It means surrendering to this force instead of a mind that thinks it knows everything and thinks it knows best.
My Day
I think of my day – I like to get up early and I have certain routines I follow that include meditation, reading, writing and generally saturating myself in ‘being’ energy. Then off I go into the rest of my day. If I can continue to surrender to what IS in every moment and ALLOW that greater force to flow, I will maintain my energy levels and often experience the unexpected as I open to the infinite possibilities in every moment.
If instead, I allow my mind to insist that certain things happen and when they don’t, try to make them happen, my day tends to deteriorate until by the time bedtime rolls around I am altogether drained of that wonderful energy I experienced at the beginning of the day.
Of course there is energy used during the day that needs replenishing from a good night’s sleep. That is part of being alive. But there’s also being able to maintain that early morning awareness as we go through our days. Then there is a different kind of weariness at the end of the day.
Detach by not RE-acting!
It doesn’t matter what you are doing or who you are with, a day of being in the flow of Life Itself is a day of fulfillment in one form or another.
I love a story Eckhart Tolle tells about the monk who says ‘is that so?’ in response to every event that happens to him – what others would call ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘right’, ‘wrong’ etc. Life unfolds in its own perfect way throughout all these experiences and his attitude saves him the heartbreak, frustration or despair that others might have experienced through their RE-actions.
I find myself saying, Well isn’t THAT interesting? when something comes up that isn’t a part of my plan. This helps me to step back a bit and allow a Presence response to arise.
The desire to maintain that morning connectedness throughout my day has grown stronger as time goes by, meaning I have to find ways to keep my awareness at the front. I do this by making being anchored in Presence the most important priority of the moment. Asking Presence to flow through my mind and my hands at the keyboard as I work makes a huge difference. So too all the daily chores and other activities.
A force, greater than mind will ever be, brings insight and inspiration. Mind becomes the servant of Presence, providing support and structure for Presence to flow.
Practice today – watching yourself for RE-actions – even just saying I don’t have time for this can be a RE-action. A deep breath and saying to yourself Hmmm – this is interesting doesn’t take any longer and brings you into a Present Moment space.
Let go of trying to make things happen and watch how the Universe flows through you in unexpected and unimagined ways as you allow it the freedom to be, to express its magnificence through you.