It is in Your Power

Has it ever happened to you that you really want something to happen but you have no idea how? You are so dispirited that you just want to give up. If that is how you feel right now, relax, life has a present for you!

 We all struggle with failures, illnesses and problems that come our way. But you are not as helpless as it appears.  Instead of focusing on the obstacles, the successful people focus on what they want to achieve and experience. When they encounter bumps in the road, they take these opportunities as chances to grow and not as punishments. After we learn our lessons they transform and open up to life with even more intensity. Everything becomes easy again. On the other hand, if we keep running away from our difficulties, they don’t really just disappear.  They show up again until we have mastered what we need to learn.

Take love as an example. We all are eager for love and want to experience love as best as we can. We are most happy when we are surrounded by love. However, everyone who has been in love before also knows that suffering is unfortunately nearby. Does love make us suffer? What if our loved one gets sick? What if she doesn't love us back?

We suffer only because we don’t really know what love is. Whenever we get a glimpse of true love we transform and open up to life no matter what. There is incredible creativity and love in opening up to everything that comes our way. We learn from our problems and learn to focus on what we want to experience. We are able to tell the story of our life and are able to look through the occasional distraction.

The same philosophy applies to all obstacles and difficulties in our life. If we resist, they will persist. If we open up to them, the overriding storyline will soon become clear to us and we will transform ourself and the environment we operate in. Take the courage, be persistent and find the creative solution that hides in every obstacle. Life is here for us to become the creator and healer we are born to be. It is in your power!

By Christian and Su Zhen

Transcendence

In me burns a fire, a contradiction that demands resolution. If it burns in me, chances are it burns in you as well. We could try to extinguish it, but that would be counter-productive.
An example: a greedy person may be so fed up with the forces within that are beyond his comprehension so that he tries to purify his character by becoming a monk. This may be life affirming step or it may be an escape. Only the monk will know; perhaps only after a few years of soul searching.

Every contradiction has a resolution. All you have to do is to add a new dimension to the problem and you will have your answer. Every war that is brewing inside of you can be stopped today. It is your choice and life - the Tao - will help you to get a resolution. But again, you cannot end a war by just ignoring an aspect you despise. The solution demands that every aspect of yourself finds expression. If the problem exist, so does the solution - that is the promise of our Creator.

A second example: C. Alexander Simpkins and Anellen Simpkins describe the story of a client in "The Dao of Neuroscience" who rejects the aggression in her. They advise her to drop labeling her character trait as "bad" and recommend to channel her aggressive tendencies into a creative outlet. That was exactly what she did and became a successful businesswoman in the process. That is what transcendence is all about.

The Hindus display the Goddess Durga with a serene face, riding majestically on a tiger, yet display Her mirror image Kali as fierce black woman as She slays the demon king. We can convert every dark force into a life-affirming one. Kali is as life-affirming as Durga is when she removes the interferences along the Way for us. We can do the same. For every demon inside of us there is the right creative expression. An example: Kim-Anne Jannes describes how she managed to transform her personal demon into a beautiful dragon who warned her of any approaching evil force - her book is in German, "Das Ich als Lehrer des Lebens".

We folks in the spiritual community spend years cementing over our dark forces in the name of God but eventually have to face our dark side anyway because life just doesn't want to cooperate with us unless we stare right into the fire. Get your shadow work done with, the sooner the better. You will find a way that uses the power of your demon and merges it with the life-affirming creative outlet of your spiritual path. Your problem is a present from the Tao - open it, it is beautiful but there is some assembly required. Yes, you can have it all. Enjoy first the creative period of transcendence and then enjoy your masterpiece.  

Losing Sight of the Way

Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.
(Queen Victoria)

We all tend to be thankful to God when the going is easy, but how about when things seem to be out of control? We suddenly feel lonely and scared when things are not going our way. So has God forgotten all about us?

To the contrary, it is us shutting down on the Way and falling back on our old nasty habits of fearing for our status, our health, our sanity, the loyality of our friends, and what have you. We literally get carried away by the fearful events when all that is really needed is the faith that the upcoming change or the problem at hand will help us in accomplishing our life's mission even better than before. Instead of setting our sails to the changed wind direction we are steering back and forth without getting anywhere. We zoom into the problem instead of the solution and consequently feel bitter, afraid and resentful.

When you are lost and confused, and when you lose faith in a divine order of things you end up hurting yourself and others in the process.  It is like the harder you try to solve the problem at hand, the harder the problem gets. So when the going gets tough and when you feel impatience, anxiety and anger rising in you, drop everything and reconnect with the Way instead. It is not hard to do. You will be surprised about that incredible peace that penetrates instantaneously when you take a step back and connect with the Way. No matter what, the Tao never stops extending a guiding hand; it was you instead who temporarily let go of Her.

Please test our theory next time when you feel anxiety, impatience or anger rising in you. If you can connect with the Way even in these situations you will be all set for life. Fact of the matter is that the kingdom of God never leaves you - the kingdom of God is within you and is always at your disposal.

By Christian and Su Zhen