What does it mean to "Go with the Flow"?
Modern Life breaks the natural cycles.
Instead of allowing the darkness at each day's close envelop us like a warm blanket, we bathe ourselves in a sting of bright, white LED lights and the computer screen flickers our eyes and maddens the spirit with its heartless drone that is the empty pulse of our lifeless machinations.
All in the name of more, the edges of civilization flexes its biceps without restraint a little more and little more, gobbling away at the thinning edges of wilderness to sustain its hungry bulging muscles.
All in the name of more, there's never enough; satisfaction is like trying to reach the horizon. There's every conceivable gadget that allows us to push the 'pleasure button' at any time. Pleasure has become a product, and not something which arises and falls naturally in its own time and appropriate manner. We equate pleasure with happiness but happiness is the harmony that allows pleasure to unfold by itself without striving. instead we are caught in a spiraling loop of sharp highs and falls.
The unfortunate frog trapped in the state-of-the-art aquarium is delivered its demise in the form of endless jabs and pokes by the careless soap-laced aromatic hand of a child. To the frog it is torture; to the nerves it is like the energy drinks one consumes to prop up a corpse with cables to make it look alive. To the child it is a form of entertainment.
Although the frog jumped into the aquarium by itself, it still deserves pity because how could it have known that trading the wild winds outside the window for the perfect, right-angled corners and flawless slippery glass surfaces would be like trading the sun rays for a lamp? Once the frog lies on its back exhausted, the child gets bored and moves onto the next thrill until the frog begins to twitch and show signs of life again of course.
Life is persistent; If a tree gets cuts down it's stump will start to regrow. It doesn't think about the many years of growing lost; it just grows back. The weed that is cut away time and time again by the frustrated gardener grows back time and time again. No thought of wasted efforts because all efforts are for living.
Even when the life conditions are not ideal, life hangs in there because life is trying to find the balance! Even when we treat our bodies the way we do, when there is long-term sleep- deprivation, overwork, over-stimulation, emotional turmoil, aches and pains, the body just keeps going and going albeit like a car needing maintenance with a wobbly, squeaky wheel. Life is tough but life is also delicate. It is regrowing and regenerating without a second thought but it cannot do this for ever! Because of this, it tries to find balance every moment. Life is waiting for you to help it find this balance, mostly by waiting for you to get out of the way!
Going with the flow is to realise what life wants, what life needs. Developing this sensitivity gives you the right feedback to live your life. Instead of treating your body like the frog in the aquarium, you are like the child who releases the frog back into the wild and appreciates its beauty letting it thrive as it is without having to posses it or being another means to self-medicate with instant pleasure. The frog's suffering is not the child's pleasure. The frog's mere existence is now pure delight!
Going with the flow doesn't mean to fall where you stand into a formless blob; it means to get clear and let go of the bells and whistles drowning out the sound of your heart beat. How can one engage with the environment around and within and make clear decisions when one has jabbed, poked and prodded one's being into an incessant state of simultaneous over-arousal and exhaustion? When we shed what is not important and find what is important there are no more decisions because what is required to be done is as clear as water moving around a rock.
Modern life is moving you along its chemical, plastic-littered stream but this is - not - going with the flow! Going with the flow in this case is to swim against and exit the flow and find the clear waters to swim in. Then, one has the chance to find the right balance and the life inside you will quietly appreciate this as the changes to your life on the outside speaks volumes! This way one can meet the unique challenges of modern living.
Remember, life is waiting for you to listen. Life is waiting to find the balance.
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