red light green light

Imagine that you are in your car waiting at a red light with your eyes fixed preparing to make your move the second the light switches to green. Your patients may be starting to waiver and the intensity is building as everything rests on the one moment when your foot makes contact with the accelerator. The light changes and you don't miss a beat. Off you go. Exhale. Your body now relaxes and you are once again amid the sea of other drivers. What is happening here? Why do we put so much attention and pressure on certain moments or events, possibly creating tension, stress, and anxiety and not other moments? What makes one situation more important than another?

Well, actually one moment in time is no more important than another! We can not say that doing the laundry is more important than getting an oil change. They cannot be compared. They are two separate goals. Depending upon our present life situation one moment may appear to have more value and more importance, but in truth, that is an illusion. You have decided to give a certain task more value than another based on your needs at that given moment in time. But you will notice that your needs are constantly changing. So, one moment, you may think that the goal of changing the oil has more value, but lets say you don't need to get an oil change because maybe you have an electric car, then, the value of the oil change is quite different. So, we can truthfully say, one goal is not better than another.

Goals are solid. They give you a reason to be running. They say that you are important what ever it is that you are chasing. But is this the truth? Is the moment you sit in the car at the red light any more important than the next moment when the light reads green? No, not at all. Just two different situations that are quite similar if you really take a deeper look. Drop the goals.

You may argue that if one drops having goals then one will have no direction in life and the possibility of becoming lazy may manifest. This is the thinking of the rational mind. Actually, the opposite is just the case. If you drop the goals (the object that you are running after) more intelligence opens up to you. The shift is from the narrow view (a goal) to a larger scope including all possibilities. If all possibilities are there, present in front of you, your chances of making clear life decisions is far grater than the narrow view you may have carried earlier.

In having to accomplish a particular task or goal that you set for yourself you may carry underlying emotions of fear and tension because all your effort and energy are now on this one important event. You have now singled out this one event and made it very worthy. If one can widen their lens and accept any task with bliss and joy as the underlying motivators then every opportunity or event has the potential for ease, grace and greatness. Then, it is not a matter of what we do but it is more about how we are doing it. The intention becomes key to truly living. And the more we resonate in the high frequency of joy and bliss we will surly come to understand our very own dharma or unique path. Goals can create tension because they are fixed and they ask us to perform with perfection. Our results are then only results of tension and anxiety due to the pressure to perform.

Be blissful. Find the joy in everything. The car in front of you on the freeway has every right to be there, just like you. Even if they are going 55mph. Be grateful you have a car.