transcribed from my journal, and lightly edited
Life is predictable to some extent; the rest is unpredictable and beyond my control. Neither extreme belief is helpful. Both are simultaneously true.
I am responsible for much of how my life adapts and strives towards what I value. More than anything else, my power lies in how I respond to each arising situation with agility, wisdom, personal conviction, and a balance of action and non-action.
I can take refuge in the beauty of the world and its enduring nature; the soft power of my attention and relaxation; and the loving structures of my relationships with friends, family, and environment. I understand that life requires collaboration and asking for help. We move forward together.
I am shaped by what has happened—but I am not bound to or trapped by the past. In fact, in each day I have the opportunity to be new and renewed by different experiences and choices, and by my willingness to change my mind about myself, other people, and the world.
I am willing to be changed. I do not need to enforce change by lifting myself up by my bootstraps—I simply remain open to what calls and lean into it.
I trust myself to shift with life. I can plan some things, but I can mostly rest on existing structures and principles that I’ve cultivated. I no longer need to forage for my basics, or interrogate every decision. My life has its working foundations, tied in with those of civilisation—human needs, nature, culture, insight. I rest on them.
My aim is to do all things in a relaxed and peaceful way. (Relaxed =/= easier. Relaxed = looser, softer, more naturally, without resistance or fear, without enmeshment or indifference. —> light-footed, light-hearted, gentle, has mass but is not weighed down1.)
I live for the continuation of peaceful and contented experience, the discovery of new information about myself and others, and for the deep pleasures of walking, breathing, relating, touching, reading, witnessing, playing, moving, laughing, smiling…
I take peaceful action and speech, and my commitment to the above deep pleasures as my guides. I don’t need to force myself to adopt new behaviours or beliefs due to external pressure. I rest upon my inner compass (well-crafted and continually honed), and let life unfold!
I flow towards what I am called to do, not what I am induced to do. And that makes all the difference.
mass: faith, conviction, care, love, compassion, action, non-action / weight: stress, anticipation, anxiety, anger, force, unnecessary suffering