You may have noticed that this blog post included “Part 1” in its title.  This is a like a mini-series, but different. No C-grade Hollywood actors bringing a true story to life, but you can tune in for a few weeks to explore the topic of living consciously and being peaceful even when the you-know-what hits the fan…when you’re in the darkness…when you’re EBBING day after day and are longing to FLOW once again. Ah, that is the very topic for today: the suffering that can come from wanting things to be different than they are.

Part 1 of my mini-series is about accepting and welcoming the very fact that you are ebbing.

I recently read an article in the September issue of Oprah’s magazine by one of my favourite authors, Martha Beck. Martha talks about our obsession with flowing being the source of much of our angst. We don’t welcome the ebbs into our lives like we do the flows – not by a long shot.  The ebbs are January, the flows are July. I have learned (and re-learned many times) that wanting the present to be anything different than it is can lead to many stressful thoughts that don’t work for us at all. Therefore, if we can be aware enough to simply decide to be okay with the fact that an ebb has landed on our doorstep, we aren’t making the situation suck more than it already does.

Being okay with the ebbs is not easy stuff – it takes consciously reminding ourselves that our soul is having this human experience to EXPERIENCE life in its entirety. When the darkness sets in, we often ask ourselves, “How could this be happening?” but when we are aware of the fact that our soul is here to take it ALL in, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves, “How could this NOT be happening?”

Martha also suggests in her article, that ebbs are an offering to REST. When we’re flowing, we’re also going and if you’re anything like me, going like a bat outta hell some days. This summer has been a rather large ebb for me (hence, the inspiration for the mini-series) and I have spent little time being the productive/ambitious person that I am (or sometimes think I need to be) and much more time just BEING. I have spent most of my time thinking, talking, exercising, and simply sitting on the couch with my eyes opened wider than they have ever been before. I have accepted and welcomed my ebb most days (as i said, it takes awareness – big time!), but my ebb has stopped me in my tracks and it has indeed resulted in a powerful rest period which has brought all kinds of gifts – physically, mentally and spiritually. I have learned that it’s okay to rest when the you-know-what hits the fan…the productive, ambitious, social (or insert other things) being that you are will return one day.

Do you have the expectation that life should be all flow and no ebb? If deep down you do have that expectation, could that be part of the suffering you experience when the darkness sets is? Are you making the situation suck more than it already does???

When the next ebb happens, may you peacefully accept and welcome it into your human experience – not with balloons or sparklers, but with the consciousness that YOUR SOUL IS HERE TO TAKE IT ALL IN. With that kind of awareness, you may start saying to yourself, “How could this NOT be happening?” May you catch yourself wanting the ebb to be a flow. May you feel all the human emotions the darkness has to offer. May you rest while the storm passes and the answers come.

Big Love,

susan