Do You Push When You Could Ride?

It happens to all of us when we desire to fix, change, or shift something: we push when we could ride. What’s that really about?

Years back, the guy cutting my hair told me about a conversation he’d had with a co-worker. She had complained that her father had used the push lawnmower on their acreage when he could have used the riding mower. He told her, “That’s how you live your life.”

I had a couple of days when I was trying to figure something out—something I wanted to change, fix, shift . . . whatever it took. On the third day, during meditation I thought, “I’ve confused myself. Show me.” What I heard in my mind was, “Stop looking and I’ll be able to.”

I got it! Though, I already knew it, but temporarily forgot what I know, in favor of returning to old behavior patterns. Looking for, searching for, seeking solutions are actions, but not the right actions when your energy is worried, fearful, or fretful. You have to get calm. It’s like that saying that an open hand can hold water; a closed one can’t. It’s no different for energy.

The rest of the day, when mind clutter tried to start up again, I’d think: “Practice Empty Mind. Flow. Listen.” Nothing intuitive could communicate with me as long as I was doing all the “talking.” The time to look, search, or seek for ways to implement solutions or next steps happens once you are clear what they are. Inner first; outer follows. But, this may feel counterintuitive to you because aren’t you being irresponsible if you don’t panic or fret when you need a solution or next step? You already know that never solves anything and that it feels awful to be in that kind of process.

When you’re not open to receiving—especially inspired ideas, because you’re worried, fearful, or fretful, you won’t receive what will benefit you. Your intuition (your receiver and guide) will stand aside and wait patiently for you to return to your senses—however long that may take. You have to trust that—as a coaching client’s mantra states, “I don’t know how it’s going to happen yet, but everything will work out.” This doesn’t mean she doesn’t take action; it means she lets go of fretting and acts as soon as inspired ideas come to her (with desired results, I add).

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience, or not, but when I ask (the right way) for something, empowering “stuff” starts showing up. Like two Abraham (Esther Hicks) videos I found on YouTube: The Stream and Rampage of Invincibility. I recommend you look them up and watch them in the order I listed here.

In case you don’t . . . The Stream discussed the fact that we tend to row upstream or cling to the bottom rather than “flow gently down the stream” (my phrasing in quotes). One reason is because we’re told we “should” do that, that we are rewarded for pushing upstream. We get “trophies” for doing this. That’s what others expect of us—because that’s what they do.

Of course, you really have to figure out what this means for you personally. I take it to mean if I’m not doing what fulfills me, I’m rowing upstream. If I’m not researching and planning how I can do what fulfills me, I’m rowing upstream. If I’m expending more energy feeling awful about What Is than on Where Can I Go from Here?—I’m rowing upstream. What does it mean for you?

Push, row . . . or flow.

You are what you practice.
© Joyce Shafer
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