I was rafting down a river looking for the key to life and everything. The river became rough as I hit some rapids so I paddled frantically and eventually escaped the rapids and got to the shore because I knew the river was talking me the wrong way. I climbed and climbed a mountain that was beside the river and finally got to the top, exhausted from my arduous trek. On the peak of the mountain I looked down at my raft still beside the river where I left it at the base of the mountain. I saw the rapids that I had escaped and traced the course of the river as it became calm and meandered around the backside of the mountain where on a beach right beside the river was the key to life. I was going in the right direction all the time, I just didn’t know it. This dream was many years ago, but it has always stayed with me.
Taoism compares life to a stream that naturally flows down the path of the lowest elevation to eventually reach the ocean. Allow yourself to flow with the stream of life instead of against it. Trust that the process of your life is taking you exactly where you need to go and learn to adapt to the direction and the lessons life is trying to teach you instead of fighting the process.
So how do you protect a butterfly? Of course, the answer is to set it free. If you try to put it in a cage or control it in some manner, even with good intentions, it will only harm this tender creature. So many times in our lives we try to control other people or situations because we think we know what’s best, but usually what happens is that we simply create unnecessary conflicts that complicate the relationships with the people in our lives. Often the best way for a relationship or a situation to heal is to let it be and allow the situation to unfold and let others live their lives as they see fit and make their own choices in their own way. If they want your advice they will ask for it. However, most of the time they will learn from their mistakes a lot quicker than if you try to shove your opinion and your solutions on them without their consent.
In the Native American culture the butterfly is the symbol of transformation because of the process of change from caterpillar to winged flight. You can have this type of transformation in any situation in your life when you are willing to let go of control and release your ideas of how you think the problem needs to be solved and enter in a partnership with the flow of life. You can trust that a higher purpose is being fulfilled when you trust the process and come from a loving place of clarity rather than frantically trying to control the situation.
Release your fear and let go of control. Trust the process. Dance with the flow of your life situations and be lovingly responsive to the events in your life and you will be amazed at what can happen. Pick any situation in your life where you feel stuck. Become open to healing and a positive resolution to the issue and try trusting, letting go and energize yourself to act with love and react with patience and understanding. Be open to the miracle of life unfolding right in from of you. You can do this.
Here’s a link to “Let It Be” By the Beatles. It seems appropriate I just couldn’t resist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtNU616XqQk
Be well,
Steven Fisher
