(30 Days is a free writing exercise in which a quote is chosen and written about. Please participate by sharing your comments on the quote. The idea is that this is an exercise to get our intuitive minds to open rather than writing polished pieces)
"Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
--William Shakespeare
Hearing this phrase over and over the past week, I have a feeling that something more than serendipity is sending this quote my way. (Perhaps regarding the last entry :) ) It is a concept I think about often and wrote about for the 30 days exercise in 2008. To me, it speaks to the idea that everything is what we make it. Everything can be seen in two ways or more. Everything we experience has a way for us if we are open to seeing it and experiencing what it has to offer.
But here's the hitch. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a willingness to ship off our sense of control on the next departing boat. It means we have to let something be bigger than us and in whatever way it means, to trust this "something bigger" and its ability to steer us safely through the wreckage or the celebration.
Our ego likes it when things are black and white, good or bad, yes or no. That is when our ego feels important because in that place of false certainty, our ego can take a stand and protect us. For better or for worse. Our ego doesn't like the gray area. It tells us it is unsafe, non committal...scary. When we embrace the gray area or the natural state of contradictions and wonders life continually presents to us, our ego is out of a job.
On cetrain days, when we allow ourselves to gently let go of the notion of "being in control", we begin to accept that life is what we make of it 24/7. And while our ego may be out of a job, our intuition just got hired.
This week has been all about letting the tide wash in beautiful new seashells while taking a bit of the beach with it. Tonight, I take a deep breath with gratitude for life's flow and its ebb as well.
