Not-Doing

“It is not healthy to be thinking all the time. Thinking is intended for acquiring knowledge or applying it. It is not essential living.” —Ernest Wood

As young a young man I loved to “push the river,”trying out my mental and physical muscles, swimming against the current. As an "older" man pushing is not my passion. Early on I learned that my life was up to me, that I should strive hard, persevere, even punish my body to keep my head above water. It took me a long time to remember that I could be held up by that water, made alive by its grace, supported by its buoyant energy.

Few of us learned one of the secrets of freedom: that “not-doing” carries us further than we could ever have gone under our own efforts. Even better, when I stop pushing my life along, the ego stays in check, because it can’t take credit for what I accomplish by simply letting go.

Nature teaches “not-doing” to all with eyes to see. The chick does not construct the egg it’s born from. The grass is planted by the wind, the lake is filled by the rain, and no one has to wake up the sun in the morning! Life has its perfect plan. When I surrender to its current, I free to give a much needed rest to my mental machinery.

Question: Are you still "pushing" or are you "letting go" as the decades roll along?