When I first started my company, I was on a high.
I had left my corporate job, was working for myself and doing what I loved.
I stopped going against my own inner current and instead began to swim with it.
With each new client, life became easier and much more fun.
When I first started my company, I was on a high.
I had left my corporate job, was working for myself and doing what I loved.
I stopped going against my own inner current and instead began to swim with it.
With each new client, life became easier and much more fun.
After a few months, I was totally addicted to my "high".
I wasn't prepared for what came next, that inevitable low.
I went through a tough stage of having trouble finding clients and facing some tough personal issues.
And I kept thinking that somehow I had just missed my current, that if I just kept looking I would find the fastest stream and get back into it.
There had to be some middle current that was really fast, and if I stepped into it, life would always go the way I wanted it to go.
Before I left for my ten day silent meditation on June 25th, I was still looking for that really fast middle current, and it was ever more elusive to me.
One of the stories that I learned on the retreat, goes something like this.
Two wealthy, royal brothers were left with a box after their father died.
The box contained one gold ring, ornate with gems and diamonds and one plain silver ring.
Being smart and greedy, the older brother quickly seized the gold ring for himself, claiming that because he was older he deserved it.
The younger brother settled for the plain silver band.
As the years went by, both brothers experienced great highs and lows in their lives, times of great prosperity and love and times of scarcity and aversion.
The older brother suffered greatly in the times of scarcity, bemoaning his terrible luck, even getting very close to selling his gold ring.
One day the younger brother began to wonder why his wealthy father had saved such a plain, worthless silver ring.
He took it off and examined the inside.
It said "This too shall pass.
" He suddenly understood why his father had valued the ring - it reminded him not to get too attached to times of wealth and not to suffer so much in times of scarcity.
Everything, good or bad would come and go.
It was all a part of life's process.
The younger brother did not suffer through life like his older brother.
Instead, he found a sort of peace in accepting both the positive and the negative.
As I was listening to this story, my legs tired and sore from eight hours of meditation, I suddenly realized that there is no fast current in life like the one I had imagined.
There is no consistent way to make everything go exactly the way you want it to go.
You can't work harder, love more people or make more promises to ensure that everything will always be OK.
My fastest current has a new definition now, it is now about accepting what life brings my way, and not resisting the situations that challenge me.
It seems like common sense, but it can be the hardest principle I know how to follow.
Resistance can be much easier than acceptance.
If you too are still looking for that inner fast current without success, perhaps try a few minutes of deep breathing in the midst of it all.
Realize that no matter how painful, this too shall pass.
Don't worry, you won't be alone.
Somewhere out there, I'll probably be doing the same thing.