Yesterday I was booked on a kayak course - and not wanting to miss out - I went along, having spent most of the night on the toilet and having no food in me.
Probably not my most “sensible” decision, but we do these things sometimes don’t we?
But even though I was shattered after -
What wonders were had from some good old fashioned coaching!
The biggest thing I learnt, and what I see can be applied to all of life is as follows:
Don’t eat out of date food.
No, actually -
The coach Ken (Hughes - great fella) got me working with the river, not against it.
I was fighting, trying to impose my will on something substantially bigger and stronger than me.
Turns out there’s an easier way.
Letting my kayak and the river do the work is different, it results in getting places with more style, having more energy, less stress and a real sense of flowing with the river.
It doesn’t mean giving up and letting the river push me where it wants me to go -
because that would mean I would be fish food pretty quick -
So I still need to be prepared, and do the work -
But at the right time, at the right place.
It means working with the river - going when the river goes, stopping and resting where the river rests.
And - tenuous link with life coming up ...
That’s what we don’t do.
We fight and we struggle and we push against the current.
So many people try and impose their will and simply get bashed and stressed fighting against the inevitability of something.
Meditation has shown me the uselessness of resisting something I can not possibly change in this moment.
Much easier to work with it.
“OK, what CAN I do in this precise moment in time?”
The thing is so many people don’t trust that life will turn out alright if they loosen the grip on the reins a bit.
The fact is if you stop fighting, you’ll stop getting stressed immediately.
You become more fun to be around, you have more energy. You can see clearer.
And as I found in my kayak, you can use what you have to get the most out of it.
All I can say is give it a try.
It’ll take some practice to recognise when you’re fighting and struggling against something you can't change,
And when to back off and when to go further.
But I think it’s the answer to making life so much smoother.
It gives you that sense of “Flow” too - even if you’re just pootling about your house.
Give it a go, let me know how it goes if you like?
Take it easy!
Arjuna
PS.
If you’d like to join me for a weekend of meditation and mindset tools that will mean you become the boss of your own mind -
Where you can control it, rather than having it control you -
Sign up here for more information on this course and upcoming courses.
And get a free quick start guide to meditation, giving you some solid advice to get going straight away:
https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sports
PPS.
I do have a seminar/workshop coming on Wednesday 26th October at 7.30pm in Darlington.
But since I’ve been busy being sick and kayaking I haven’t quite got it all together.
Coming soon though!
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