The river rumbles and tumbles,
it bumbles and fumbles,
it races by with nary a pause
in its passing,
It holds onto nothing
yet carries away mountains.
--Davin Mac Lugh
" you need to be more flexible." My water witch's words rang in my seemingly
thick skull. "more flexible?"
I questioned silently to myself. That's
a first. All my life, well up until I
married my now Ex-wife, people always told me what a laid back "go with the
flow" kind of guy I was. Now many
years later and a lot of water under my bridge I am being told that I am not
flexible enough. What, by Lugh's spear
happened to me?
Taking
her words in I began to explore how I am now, how I was then, and how I got
here. It seems to me at some point
during my travesty of a relationship with my ex that I lost my
flexibility. I think it was likely a
result of trying to survive and emotionally abusive and liable time of my
life. It probably did help me survive
those times, the problem however, is that I am no longer in that situation and
such a way of being no longer serves me.
Point in fact it is creating a lot of unnecessary stress in my life,
which was the motivation that started the conversation in which my wife told me
I needed to be more flexible. So how do
I change?
The
warm spring air was pleasantly playing across the bare skin of my chest,
shoulders and back as I sat before my alter.
The sacred fire lit, the well and tree hallowed, I called to Bridghid,
the spirits of the land and the stag, and my ancestors. I had come to seek their wisdom and advice on
how to become more flexible with situations.
I began my chant, and it wasn't long before I stood before the open gates
and stepped through to the spirit world once again....
As stag
and I walked in the woods side by side, my hand gently resting upon his back he
said to me "you lack flexibility because you are attached to
outcomes. When events happen that make
those outcomes no longer a possibility you aren't letting go of that, and it is
causing you stress. Desiring a certain
outcome is natural, but holding onto that desire, that attachment, is not the
way of nature. "
So it
is. When we hold onto our expected and desired outcomes or situations and they
don't happen we are going to feel stress, pain, frustration, and
resentment. The cure is to be mindful of
what is going on internally and when we sense that holding on, that attachment
and desire for a certain outcome, we must take a deep breath and let go. Then and only then can we gracefully flow
through our day, our week, our month, our year, and our life.
