When you do not know what to choose, show total involvement in everything. Then Life will choose, and it is never wrong. -Sadhguru
This can be so hard, can’t it?
To be totally involved in anything, let alone everything can be a struggle. We are often taught from a young age to choose the “safe” path in every aspect of life. Or we take the easy choices offered to us because we fear we might fail at the harder ones. We tend to base our present and future actions upon our past experiences, and unfortunately, our past experiences have too often been linked to struggle or pain.
We have all experienced loss in love/family/friendship relationships, jobs or business opportunities, health, pets, or any number of circumstances that, like a child burning his hand on a hot stove, have set our neurological programming to “stay away”.
Those programs are there to protect us, right? This goes back to the idea (fact) that our brains are hardwired to survive, rather than to thrive.
The thing is, the same neurological processes that teach us to watch out for a hot fire or poisonous spider – those that keep us safe from physical harm to ensure our best chance for survival – also control our emotional well being and so wire our brain to “beware” those things that have previously hurt us.
We get jilted or broken by a relationship or lover – or two – and we become reluctant to love fully. Or at all.
Someone we think is a friend rejects us and we begin to assume this is going to be the case with all friendships. So we shut down – but loneliness is a poor substitute for the joy we often find in good company and community, isn’t it?
We close shop on our dream business or get fired/laid off from a job we enjoy through no fault of our own – and we start thinking “maybe it’s me”. Or we begin to wonder if we are truly worthy of achieving our dreams or having the financial abundance that we desire.
We fail with that first art piece, poetry, novel, or gourmet meal, and instead of giving it a second, third, fourth or even fifth go, decide that it’s “just not for us”. Can you relate?
We learn to live our lives allowing our past pain to dictate our future experience. Our world gets smaller as we “play it safe” in an attempt to keep us from more pain.
But if those old programs that keep us safe also keep us from living fully and joyfully, it might be time to overlay some new programs and ways of being. True happiness is a fairly recent evolutionary process, but I believe this is the absolute coolest aspect of our existence today:
We Can Choose Happiness.
We can stop playing it safe, if safe means unfulfilled and unhappy.
It might be time to give up the self-limiting illusion of control, stop saying “maybe tomorrow” and start saying “yes” – or better yet, “Helllll Yeah” to those opportunities that come your way, and jump, eyes, heart and arms wide open off that ledge – and into the waiting arms of All That Is. Sadhguru called it “Life”, but this is just another word for Source. When we give up control and take that leap, have faith that The Universe has your back.
So say yes to that new love. Yes to the travel. Yes to that bakery, bookstore, crystal shop or any other business you have been dreaming of. Yes to the dream job you have been offered but feels like a stretch. Yes to the poetry, yes to the art, yes to the new culinary explorations from a burn-your-ass curry to a delicate halibut cheek sashimi.
I was recently talking whiskeys with a friend. I loved his take on his liquors of choice:
“When I drink, I want something that is going to beat me up and take my lunch money.” Now that is an all-in, hellll yeah attitude.
So say yes to the big jammy reds, the light-on-your palate whites or the peaty, fire-down-your-gullet single malts. Unless alcohol is a problem for you, of course.
Say yes the birdwatching, whale watching, boy or girl watching. Say yes to big hugs and long embraces, yes to conversations with strangers, to new coffee shops, to learning to surf or pick-up games of beach volleyball, bowling or tree climbing – even if you think you might suck. Especially if you think you might suck. Having fun while failing can be one of life’s great pleasures, believe me.
Say yes to new adventures. Or misadventures, as long as it’s fun and doesn’t harm anyone.
Say yes to that sexy new neighbor with the fabulous French accent. Or Spanish, Romanian, or no accent at all.
Try it all, at least once. How do you know what’s right for you if you don’t experience a few wrongs? This one sentence translates into nearly everything in life from finding the perfect boot to the right relationship – and everything in between.
In fact, just say yes to anything that points you in the general direction of bliss, of a feeling of ease within yourself and the fullest expansion of who you are. It just might be the best thing you ever did.
Is it possible that if you dive right in you might get hurt again? Of course. But the experience is never wasted. We heal, and every single experience teaches us something about ourselves, our world and others. I can guarantee from personal experience, once you do jump off that cliff and into the waiting arms of the Universe – of whatever it is that is out there that is so much greater than our comprehension – you will never, ever want to go back to that place of lack, of allowing the past to dictate the future.
It’s a brave new world. I believe we are on the cusp of a huge evolutionary step foward, from surviving to thriving. If you are reading this, perhaps this is your time to take that leap into the unknown – and into the waiting arms of Source, of Love, of bliss, of expansion and authenticity.
I can’t wait to see all that the future holds for you. It’s going to be absolutely magical.✨
Sending much love your way💖
- Terah
This Blessed Sacred Life 