Becoming Whole

It’s the first time it’s rained in Pittsburgh in quite a while. There are problems with that sentence, not grammatical ones, but I won’t be getting into that now. Instead, as I allowed the rain to tap my umbrella and sprinkle slightly on my face, I considered how much inspiration the rain brings. That while it sidelines some activities it allows for a pause. A reminder that we are delicate, and the skies can open up to determine some other outcome for the day. Maybe we’ve “conquered” nature by learning how to predict it. However, prediction is not the same as control and the winds can still change direction. We are susceptible to thinking that we have won nature, but fail to remember that we are part of nature. So, when it rains, I let it remind me that I am ruled by nature by letting it hit me in the face.

Why You Need to Keep Moving

Life and death are not distinctly human, but the way we move through them is. Movement is at the cornerstone of our existence. Where our existence outlives us through the memory of others, it is the actions we’ve taken in those moments that are cemented in memory that transcend time and space as we know it. In all things, movement is at the forefront. Whether it be a thought becoming action, or the physical idea of taking the first step. Everything becomes something else. This recognizes how fluid existence is. Nonetheless, a union between our movements through life and life’s movements through us is accomplished when we choose to move in the same direction. That when an emotion overcomes us, we feel it, and choose a direction with it to move on. When we neglect our own states we allow a resistance to fester within us. Emotions are temporary states, and once we acknowledge them, we free ourselves of making a move from a temporary place of feeling.

Water serves as the best example for balance, as it demonstrates life and death. Too much water you can drown, and too little you can dehydrate. A flood can destroy, and the rain can nourish. It is not perspective that determines these outcomes, but it is the needed balancing effects. Allowing any one state of being to consume you will inevitably lead to a preoccupation with the self and establish a rigid self-centeredness within. This then influences one to take the perspective that everything that happens is happening to you. With that, the illusion of having no control is emphasized, because the individual has lost themselves to a singular state. Focusing on a singular state disallows one to move through other ones. Thus, building a resistance within like a cloud holds back the rain. One must feel, release, and continue to move.

What’s more is the way water presents the mirror of cyclical nature. It moves through the cycles of precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, and condensation. This reminds us of our own nature. We will be the storm and the gentle waves that crash on the shore. However, what remains imperative is that we acknowledge the needs of our physical form. While we experience different states of being, our body requires that we physically move, just as our mind requires that we work through problems. Our bodies are not meant to be sedentary, and if we do not move, what is the body for then? The common phrase, use it or lose it, is necessary to keep in mind when it comes to the movement of the mind and body. If we do not apply our physical form in our day-to-day, then life will move through us more than we move through it. When we opt not to use mind and body we are forfeiting our own potential. One must keep moving.

Resistance forms when we refuse to accept, and acceptance is a large part of moving on. Now, acceptance can be understood from two perspectives. One way is the view of “accepting what you cannot change,” the second, “changing what you cannot accept.” We choose what we do not change. Yet to recognize a choice is necessary one must first accept their present. It is then that one can determine if their present is something they cannot change, or if it is something they cannot accept. Nonetheless, the act of resisting itself is an attempt to prevent something by action. It is here that one might become cognizant their own doing in the state of affairs they’ve landed themselves. Ultimately, the way we move through life is a choice. We can resist the things that happen, or we can accept them. When we make no choice, we risk finding ourselves frozen in a temporary state. Nonetheless, a time will come for the ice to melt. However, if we go out to sea before we’ve departed this state, we will only bring it with us to the next phase.

Becoming whole is perhaps about becoming balanced. That life is full of many deaths that transpire through acts of movement and acceptance. While life happens to us, we also happen to it. Accepting the present allows us to carry ourselves through the next phase without resistance from the past. It allows us growth as becoming something else. If the winds change course we can travel with them. We do not have to brace for their impact when we remember that we are part of the cyclical nature of life. There is no sense in resisting the wind that may carry you to where you're going. The weather remains unpredictable but so does everything else. Our preparation for the unpredictable is done through how we choose to move. Go with the flow.