“Everything that happens to you is your teacher.
The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it.”
~ Polly B. Berends
It seems like everything is awry and nothing, absolutely nothing, is controllable. We’re in a state of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). So, what can we learn from the chaos that seems to be never-ending in these VUCA times? What is highlighted is the importance of trusting the process…the process of life and the world around us.
Everything I’ve learned from my work and studied from the Masters confirms the “rightness” of trusting the process. Let me assure you that I am not suggesting that all you have to do is resign to a life of sitting under a tree while contemplating your navel and voila! the good life will be yours! But rather I am proposing that understanding the process and embracing change leads to peace and abundance.
Before we can talk about trusting the process, we have to agree on an operational definition of what a process is and how it relates to you, your life, your work and our world. Everything in our lives can be traced back to a process. Our very life is a process. Getting work done involves many processes.
If we step back and take a big picture view of our universe, everything that exists is a system. The earth and its solar system are organized around interdependent sub-processes and parts interacting towards a desired end result. This is true of our bodies, business, and our galaxy. Everything.
The “divine force” that birthed us into existence works with energy and force fields that keep us magnetized together with just enough tension of the opposites to keep us in our planetary path. Every system tends towards homeostasis or balance. Each of us is a self-correcting system, always seeking to right itself, to find center and balance. Always seeking to grow and develop towards wholeness.
For me, Luke Skywalker’s “force” is the context for our times. It is what drives every process. It is our innate urge to evolve to a better, more improved version of who we are already.
So where does trust come into play? No one questions whether spring will follow the fallow days of winter, or summer will turn into vibrant autumn. Seasons are processes we’ve learned to expect, to trust they will return. It is this same trust applied to all the processes of our life that I am suggesting. Applying this to our everyday lives and work, instead of desperately trying to control and exploit our life, we develop an attitude and response mechanism that collaborates with the dynamics of the very processes of life.
When we understand processes and how they work, we become alert to the direction in which the energy and movement are proceeding and cooperate with it. I lovingly call this trusted awesome mystery the “X” factor. Carl Jung referred to it as synchronicity.
What’s important for all of us to note is that each system and its processes has an aim, some goal or desired result. Otherwise it doesn’t exist. And when we have complete faith in the universe of interconnected processes, we are able to surrender to these natural and organic forces and this trust yields amazing results.
Are you able to flow with the process of life, or are you grasping for control? It may seem like an impossible task through these VUCA times, but I urge you to be patient. Trust in the process of your own life and in the processes of the world around you.
As Luke would say, “Go with the Force!”
Be a student and witness to the process, and we will find that balance.
Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash
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