Struggle? Suffer?

We will all have struggles but we don't have to suffer.  These words, or similar because I can't remember where I read them recently, really got me thinking.  Do I struggle?  Do I suffer?  The words in and of themselves are not ones that usually come to my mind.  Instead, yes, I face challenges.  Yes, I don't always feel good as I work through those challenges.

Over the years, I have learned a more positive way of thinking and speaking - though I must admit I regress from time to time.  Challenge feels better than struggle, don't you think?  But I can understand how some people feel the need to struggle and suffer during their struggling.  It's what they know.

At the moment you could say I am struggling with these words to say what I want to say.  Wrestling comes to mind.  You could say that I suffered through my bronchitis last month, coughing most nights instead of sleeping.  Funny, I never considered myself suffering.  I felt bad, undeniably, and getting well was my challenge (struggle?).

Suffer - to endure, tolerate - was not always energetically negative.  We have made it so and the dictionary I'm looking at actually confirms this.  Struggle by definition must include great difficulty.  We can make things so hard sometimes, can't we?  Is our reward bigger by degree of difficulty?

Many claim that words have power, that they have higher or lower vibrations and should be used carefully.  I agree to a point.  For me, if you have absolutely no energy one way or another on or about a word, it is neutral and without vibration.  I could be wrong about this, but I know I can use the words struggle and suffer without fear of consequence.  Someone who does have a negative belief on these words will most likely attract more suffering and more struggles if this is their focus.

How did I get to this place?  Well, of course, my trainings and studies of personal and spiritual growth.  But late, I think it's because I have been practicing (practicing, as in I'm not perfect at it yet) surrender.  Not giving up, but surrendering to what is, doing what needs to be done, and knowing the answers will come and the outcomes will be for my highest good.  There is no suffering in surrender, at least in my experience.

So, there it is.  Yes, there will always be challenges (life would be pretty boring without some), but suffering is a choice.  My musings.  Tell me what you "muse" about this subject!  I'd love to hear from you.

Flow with the Flux

My friend, Brenda, often said something like, "He's giving me the flux!" She was obviously frustrated at these times and I just assumed she was saying, "He's making me crazy!"

The other day the word flux showed up in my head while talking about how fast the world seems to be changing and the increasing challenges that are appearing in so many people's lives. I figured it was time to read the actual definition of flux. 1) flow 2) rate of flow 3) a continuous movement or change.

I pick Door Number 3! Yup, continuous change can sure provide the opportunity for a person to think they are going insane. We are in flux like we have never been in flux before (well, I've read that we have been here before but "we" in our bodies of today have not.)

It would be nice if we could put on the brakes and take a breather, but that is not going to happen and we'd only want to take another break, and another. We must learn to be in flow with the flux!

You can be in a state of flux, call it bad, and make yourself crazy. Or you can learn to be in flow with the flux and enjoy the ride. You can't stop the universe, or the new energies that are affecting us on all levels. You can't change congress in a day, or bring peace to the world in an hour. You can flow with the changes and bring peace to yourself now.

I know, all the teachers are telling you to accept change, embrace change, practice change - and they are absolutely right. But how? Breathe, deeply. Know that you are at choice - you can let go instead of fight the flux. My therapist (Chinese medicine) told me my hip problem was because I was being pulled in too many directions. Allowing would be more accurate. What else was I to do but twist and turn to keep all the balls in the air - flux adding more balls all the time?

Well, I identified which balls must be managed in this moment and let the others drop. Let me tell you there were some people who were not happy with this decision. Later, when I was more balanced and the stabbing in my hip went away, I went to pick up the balls I had dropped and, lo and behold, they were gone! Of course, new balls are always coming my way via flux - some I grab onto, some I let go by.

As my hip healed, I rested. Breathe and rest. Some mornings I'd wake up in a sour mood, with no reason for it (ever happen to you?). I'd spend the entire morning psycho-analysing myself! What's up with me? Is there a buried issue coming up? Did a dark entity enter my house?

When I got to the Higher Self Bookstore, a psychic might say "did you feel that energy shift?", or an astrologer would tell me we just entered mercury retrograde or this planet just entered that other planet's orbit - did I feel it? So, I had spent my precious morning looking for what was wrong with me when all that happened was a shift in energy. I don't do that anymore.

Breathe, rest, and choose what you want to pay attention to. Flux in itself is not good or bad. Avoid judging the flux! In her frustration, Brenda made flux a bad thing. Flux is flux, flux is flow, it is what it is. You can't fight it, so flow with it. Here's a little something that came to me this morning that helps in discerning good and bad:

There was a little girl, who had a little curl - right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good, she was doing what she should -
And when she was bad she was awesome!