Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling you, as a fish out of water hears the surfs, “come back.” This turn toward what you deeply love saves you.
— Rumi
Perhaps one of the keys to thriving is doing nothing.
When we feel uncomfortable, we so often leap into action. We must fix it. We must figure out why we’re hurting and what we can do about it. Immediately. But the minute we turn away from the hurt, try to push and solve the problem through action, we take ourselves out of the moment. When we resist feeling, the feeling persists. It’s like saying, “Don’t think of a pink elephant.” What is the only thing you can think of? The pink elephant.
In Rumi’s quote, we’ve walked through the door in an effort to get away from the uncomfortable feelings. We’ve walked out because we are in search of a solution, or we’re trying to escape the situation. Walking out is a salve that probably won’t heal anything and will probably make the irritation worse. The voice is calling us back to presence. We’re meant to feel these things. Even the discomfort. For within these situations lie the greatest opportunities for growth. The voice is calling us back into the moment. And that is what saves us. Just as the water can save the fish.
We can only love in the moment because this moment is all that exists. We can only love ourselves in this moment, because the present self is all that exists. Even if you screwed up in the past, it doesn’t exist. Return to the present moment. Return to what you love. Return to love.
So perhaps when things feel uncomfortable, when we’re in crisis, as a fish out of water is in crisis, we need to come back. Sit, relax, experience the discomfort and ask ourselves what we are meant to learn from this experience.
