"The more harmonious you are with the flow of your own existence, the more magical life becomes." ~ Adyashanti
Have you recently turned on the news only to want to turn it off after a few minutes?
It seems that chaos has enveloped this planet. Every corner of every street was affected by the current situation. I've never seen anything like it in my time.
It can be incredibly difficult to find a place to breathe in between all of this. On the one hand, you want to be up to date with the world, and on the other hand, it can seem like too much for one person to take in.
What can we do in all this chaos?
When will it end?
We keep asking ourselves these questions as the chaos seems to develop, not a pause in between. And we feel stressed, tense, and anxious about what affects our work, our relationships, and every other aspect of our lives.
This is where it becomes essential to go with the flow of life.
In your life, at your darkest moment, there are two options: you can fight reality and harbor negative feelings, or you can accept what has come into your life and work towards a solution.
The faster we accept our reality, the faster we can move with the flow of life.
We usually have opinions and judgments about what is going on or what has happened to us – that life is not fair, that things shouldn't happen, that we should be in a different place now – and that is what leads to our suffering. Instead of arguing with reality, we have to accept whatever comes.
Some time ago I lived in Budapest for almost a year. I loved my life there and as an expat I had built a foundation of friends and a solid routine. Unfortunately my mother got sick and I decided to visit my family in another country.
I packed my bags and left my things at my friend's house in the full expectation of coming back later to pick up all of my things. But when I got to the airport, the guard stopped me and then gave me a strange look while looking at my passport.
"How long have you been in Hungary?" he asked in broken English.
I looked around a little and mumbled hesitantly: "Almost a year."
"ONE YEAR?" he screamed.
You see, I knowingly exceeded my visa by about six months. I knew it was my fault. It was also my mistake to believe my expat friends who told me they wouldn't mind if I walk out of the airport.
The man took my passports and came back a few moments later.
"No Europe two years," he said as he stamped my passports and let me through on my flight.
That's it. My mother was sick, I went to a country where I didn't know anyone and didn't know the language. I had just lost all of my things; my clothes, my computer, anything that didn't fit in a small suitcase were left behind.
At first I was pretty upset. I knew it was my fault, but there was nothing left to do.
In this situation I had two options: fight or accept. I could linger in anger, sadness, and confusion, or I could just accept the circumstances and focus on what I would do from there.
Sure, that wasn't going in my direction. That's life, we don't always get through 100 percent. I had to fully accept this situation, no matter how difficult it was, in order to move my life forward and to make the best of my circumstances.
I let my friend sell everything I owned, leaving me with just a small amount of clothes and my laptop. I lost all my friends, lost my life, and also had to deal with a sick mother. But I was lucky enough to have a mother and boyfriend to sell my things.
Of course, I didn't focus on these things at first. The whole situation was one of the most difficult periods of my life. It took me months of time and thought to finally accept my situation.
At first it is never easy. Our first instinct is to fight. But I think these kinds of challenges are given to us so that we can grow from them. Without these times we would never learn to find the flow of life.
The world is far too powerful for us to be able to fight it. The faster we realize that we are not in control, the faster we can flow with everything that comes in our way.
Turning your focus inward instead of trying to find an external source of happiness makes life a lot easier.
This is how you find peace in all the chaos of your darkest times – by creating it from within.
The world may seem poisonous and destructive, but it is still possible to find beauty in everything. Without yin there is no yang.
If you can find peace in this chaos that the whole world is experiencing, imagine what kind of peace you can feel when it is all over. That is why it is imperative that you find this river and flow with it.
Without this flow we have to suffer. Everything seems unfair and we start bullying ourselves.
If you are having difficulty I would advise you to try to accept any problems you may face. The more acceptance you bring into your life, the faster you can deal with everything that is ahead of you.
If there is nothing you can do about your problem, it is time to let go of it. If you can't let go of it, let everything be as it is.
Take me here as I know this just sounds like another flat flatness. This is a deceptively simple statement that has a lot more to offer than it initially suggests.
When I was against me and what felt like the whole world on my shoulders, I had the feeling that I wanted everything to be different. I felt like I was losing control of everything and the world felt unfair.
When you are in a state of suffering, you are in a state of pushing or pulling against something. Whatever it is, you just have to stop.
You have to make a decision here. You have only one life. You can spend the next few years wondering what, if, why me, when it will change, or you can just stop it all even if you have to make that choice repeatedly.
In the first moments when you really suffer, it only takes a brief moment of acceptance before you feel relief. This is your window back to your flow. Short as it is, even for a millisecond it is a reminder that no matter what your state is, there is still peace.
I could have spent the next few years wondering why all this happened to me and why things are no different. Instead, I decided to stop fighting with myself. I decided to stop fighting something that I would never win.
Life is good at throwing curveballs. There will be moments of pain and suffering, but there will also be times of intense joy. Keep reminding yourself that you cannot fight yourself forever. The faster you come to acceptance, the faster you can return to a state of flux that is the key to feeling at peace.
Take a moment and really think about what it means to "leave everything as it is".
Try to dig deep into it. Just try to be still. Let the flow of life flow back into you as you stop pushing and pulling. Everything will be fine if you give life a chance to show you that it will be.
About Roy Cohen
Roy Cohen is frustrated at how difficult it can be to digest some parts of spirituality and has decided to take it into his own hands and produce content, which are easy to understand for everyone. He has since started a website called "clarity.com" and is constantly publishing guides on meditation, spiritual awakening, and general advice on life.
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