Stuck In A Rut

OUR WORLD IS FULL OF CHANGE and quite frankly, many of us feel frustrated with how things are. We worry about politics, climate change, our jobs, what our fellow human beings are doing to the world and to themselves... and we worry about ourselves and why we feel so frustrated with the way things are.

As tough experiences happen, whether it be a breakup, a lost job, having to move to a new place, not having enough finances, finishing something that is challenging for us, we generally have two choices. We can remain upset and resist the whole process, or we can choose to accept it and move on.

If we can accept whatever is happening as being just what it is, a temporary barrier, a pothole in the path of life, instead of getting upset, we can try and see what we can gain from it in terms of our growth. As we react to the upsetting situation, observe the thoughts and emotions that present themselves.

Ask yourself, ‘Why am I so upset about a lost job?’ ‘Why am I so worried about change?’ ‘What do these changes represent to me that make me feel upset?’ ‘Why am I trying to control what is happening?’... But we don’t do that. We get stuck in a rut of judging what is happening instead of trying to understand it.

Now it might be easy to say that these are all natural feelings anyone would feel when going through these experiences because it’s ‘human nature,’ but this is not true simply because these reactions are learned  behaviors we get from how we have been taught to react to certain experiences.

The bottom line is, when you notice yourself going back to the same frustrations, judgments, anger, blame, fear, worry, or anxiety, you know there’s something there that’s triggering it, and it’s within you, not in the situation. You must let go of the mind’s stories about everything you do or are about to do.

The only way to peace and moving beyond that suffering is letting go of your belief systems, patterns of ideas in your mind that are causing such negative reactions and allow your life to evolve without  becoming emotionally involved in the drama...

Dan’s Quote: “You are learning to meet every experience as if it has
_____________no power to cause distress, for it is in fact powerless."

This post sourced partly from ‘Why we resist change’ by Joe Martino
Header Photo: Travelling ‘The Kimberley’ Western Australia by chopper.
Posted by Matt Wright 'The Outback Wrangler' National Geographic Australia.