Resistance. It’s futile. We’ve all heard it - none of us live it. Life goes along smoothly - meaning in line with our demands, our ego, our wants. Then, wham - something happens - an annoyance, a worry, a demand, a disaster, an unmet expectation, a catastrophe, and all serenity goes out the window. We decided to play the “resistance game” on our way to the beach. I’m always in favor of good clinical trial.
You heard me right - on our way to the beach again. :) I admit, I have a beach problem. I love the beach. I really should live closer to the beach, and I will someday. After our fabulous trip to Hawaii, I knew I had to plan a beach trip with the kids. It was tough to find another time in our short summer (school starts August 5!) to schedule, so 4th of July weekend it had to be. Two vacations in a row is never a problem, right?
So, back to the resistance game. Robb and I often discuss the fact that it is so easy to RESIST things. I wrote a previous post on the power of “letting go”. If only we could “let go” more often than we resist, life would be much easier and we would be much more relaxed. We decided that every time one of us resists (either self policed or called out by the other), we owe the other person a dollar. For example, when someone cuts me off in traffic during the 6 hour drive to the beach, if I make a disparaging comment about that driver (hypothetical of course), I owe Robb a dollar. If he, hypothetically, is a backseat driver and tells me to go this way or that way in opposition to what I have chosen to do, the dollar comes my way. And so on. Let’s just say many many dollars have been exchanged so far, and at last count, Robb’s down a buck. I’m not saying he’s more resistant than I am……he just has greater expectations. Expectations are a killer. Ego is a killer. The end result - resistance. What IF we just went with everything that came our way? What IF, with every disappointment or frustration, we just let it go? Is it possible? Is it at least possible to ASPIRE to this?
Last night - finally loaded up in the car, knowing the decision about picking a dinner spot could be a challenge given the varying tastes of the humans in the car with me, we head out with a “let’s just find something” attitude. We pass a place or two, then Robb says - let’s go with the flow. I see a restaurant immediately on our right and turn in. We were looking for a place we could sit outside, watch the soccer game, have a glass of wine and a decent meal. We had found just that. In addition, we got a wonderful breeze, great live music, and a good conversation with the musician who happened to be an artist. His art is beautiful, and I’m going to buy one of his pieces. We knew we needed to go to the grocery store, but the beach was beckoning. It was dusk, the light was low, and as we crested the dunes to the beach, the full moon was aglow in the sky. The reflection on the turquoise water was magical. We all gasped at its beauty and proceeded to the water’s edge feeling the warm silky sand between our toes. THIS is what it’s about. Listen to what is beckoning….go in that direction. Stop resisting.
It was raining when I walked outside our condo this morning. WHAT? I have THREE DAYS at the beach and it’s RAINING? Resistance. Instead….ahhh. It’s raining. Wilson can create something with the Bendaroo toys he brought. I can WRITE (this post). Acceptance of what is is a beautiful thing. Robb is grumpy (again - expectations) this morning. I can either resist or I can take a deep breath and keep on writing. It will be fun to watch him realize it and come out of it. How many hundreds of times will we all resist, then realize it, then accept it? Whatever IT is. We have no control. The painting I’m going to buy is entitled - Rain Rain It aint No Thing. Truer words have never been spoken.