“At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.”

– Maya Angelou

 Beneath the surface of our lives, beneath the fears, struggles, and perhaps, loathing there is a river of inner peace, strength and knowing that resides in every one of us.  It is always flowing.  It is always carrying us on the journey of life.  Sometimes it is smooth sailing and sometimes it is white water rapids.

Trying to avoid the turbulence is something I see a lot of people doing.  I used to be one of them.  The only way to avoid it, though, is to step out of the river altogether and plant yourself along the shore.  You may do that temporarily from time to time, but staying out permanently only prevents you from the growth that comes from a life fully embraced.

I think life challenges are like rip currents.  Nobody wants to get caught in one.  It’s scary there.  Nobody likes the feeling of being out of control and fearing for their life.  If you were to find yourself in a rip current, unless you were educated on how to safely get out, your reaction would be to swim towards shore, where you came from.  But any lifeguard would tell you that attempting to counter a rip current with force is an exercise in futility that might just cost you your life.

Most of us choose to struggle against challenges, desperately trying to get back to the shore we came from.  But here’s the kicker: if a challenge is showing up for you, it is there for your growth.  Your soul is not a gremlin coming to mess with your perfect life.  Your soul uses challenges to push you out of your comfort zone.  This seems to happen more as we age.  The challenges come specifically to carry us AWAY from our familiar shore.

There are 2 safe routes out of a rip current.  One is to swim parallel to the shore until you feel your way out of the current’s grip, although you’d be side-stepping your opportunity for growth and change by choosing this route.  The second is to let it carry you further away from shore until the strength of the rip current subsides.  We are no match for the force of water.  Don’t struggle against it.  When we do, we tire and prevent the opportunities or healing from occurring.

Instead float.  Allow.  Accept.  Surrender.  Go with the flow of the water.  Don’t deny the journey you are on.  Don’t expend too much effort trying to fight it.  Relax and let it carry you.  Feel and listen for the intuitive clues you will undoubtedly receive as to why you are encountering this particular challenge.  This isn’t ‘giving up’, this is recognizing when and where to use your power.  In the torrent of the current, you have no power, you just need to ‘be’.  But if you wait just a bit, the strength of the current will dissipate, releasing you from its grip.

I am currently experiencing challenging emotions.  I’m not sure what they are trying to show me.  There is no change in my health status, relationship status or anything else obvious.  I just feel ungrounded (like being caught in a rip current).  My guess is that I am releasing some heavy emotions (chiropractic adjustments with an intuitive healer yesterday) that I have been carrying around.  After experiencing many such periods, I now know that my best route is to just go with the flow.  Fighting it exhausts me.  When the time is right, I’ll understand why I needed to go through this and I will inevitably grow and be better for it.

If challenges make their appearance, just float for a while.  Conserve your energy until it’s time to take conscious, considered action. When you reach your new shore, you will be grateful for the challenging trip.  It will have changed your perspective and strengthened you in your life journey.