Your Goal Is to Survive

Esssay 16 of 18

Can I offer you another thought?

This is also along the lines of the funky accept non-closure thought [see Essay 14]. I would caution you in a moment that doesn’t make sense; I think sometimes there’s a rush to make sense.

Some of this may sound counterintuitive, but I wonder if you’re too vulnerable to try to come to any conclusions just yet. In other words, I wonder if you could just make it your priority to survive whole from this experience. Don’t try to make sense of it. In other words, when you’re in the ER, and you’re bleeding, it’s not the moment to try to be making sense of things. Your goal is to survive, whole.

I wonder if there’s a certain wisdom to acknowledging that you’re confused, hurting, and not rushing to any conclusions or judgments just yet. And give yourself the space and time to reflect.

Because when people have powerful, personal experiences and don’t, as the old folks say, “Just go somewhere and sit down for a minute,” to let ourselves settle, we can start making inner vows and drawing conclusions too quickly. And it negatively affects us more than helping us heal; do you know what I’m trying to say? See Essay 6 of 18: Walking Through Your Ashes.

Non-action is powerful. This is very Buddhist. Non-action is a reverence for your participation in a larger scheme of doing. Something about what you said it’s like your reverence for not wanting to act artificially.

I don’t know if I shared this with you, but one of my biggest spiritual lessons was the distinction between reacting and responding.

So sitting in a place of non-action is an opportunity to gather your wisdom and be present until you are clear about what is truly for you to do.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t do anything because I believe in actively reflecting, journaling, praying, and reading scriptures. So do all those things, but don’t rush to conclusions, judgments, or artificial sense-making.

Just wait until you are clear because you might find that it helps you move forward without a lot of baggage. Of course, you’re going to move forward with the imprint of experiences, but that’s different from moving forward with a lot of Samsonite.

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Essay 17 of 18 Scarcity Thinking (coming 04.20.22)

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This post was previously published MEDIUM.COM.

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