Why are some people able to let go and smile on a roller coaster, while others grasp the safety bar for dear life?
It’s the same reason some people are able to let go and smile through life, while others white-knuckle and grasp their way through each and every day…
That reason lies in one word: Trust.
Deep down, if you trust and believe in the people who built and maintain the roller coaster, then you’ll have no problem letting go — because you know that, in the end, the roller coaster will take you where you’re supposed to go.
And, deep down, if you trust and believe in the perfection of the world — you’ll have no problem letting go, because you know that the natural flow of the world will take where where you’re supposed to go.
Of course, a lack of trust in the world leads to fear.
It leads to anxiety that tomorrow could bring destruction.
That destruction threatens everything to which you’re attached.
So you go through life grasping the safety bar, hoping you can make it through the “ride” alive and well enough to reach the end of your life without losing all those attachments that have supposedly made you happy.
Except…
You’re not happy.
You’re anxious.
And the white-knuckling of life is wearing you down.
You’re sick of the ride, and want to get off — but you’re so far down the track, that you don’t know any other way to escape.
Panic sets in.
You’re trapped on this ride, and you can’t seem to get off.
What are you to do?
“We’ll See”
There once was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. The neighbors came to the farmer’s house to commiserate.
“We’re so very sorry to hear about your horse. What bad luck!” they told him.
The farmer simply looked at them and responded...
“We’ll see.”
The next morning, the farmer woke up to find that, not only had his horse returned to the farm, but did so with several additional wild horses.
So the neighbors returned to the farmer's house.
“Oh, wow! How awesome! How fortunate!" they exclaimed.
The farmer replied...
“We’ll see.”
The following week, the farmer’s son was attempting to ride one of the wild horses, when he was bucked off and broke his leg.
“Oh, boy. Talk about bad luck and misfortune,” the neighbors said.
The farmer replied...
“We’ll see.”
During this period, there was a war going on, and the government sent officials to the farmer’s town to conscript young men into the military. When they came to the farmer’s house, they found the farmer’s son in bed with the broken leg, so they could not conscript him.
All the other young men in the village? They were conscripted and died in battle.
“Wow! What incredible luck,” the neighbors told the farmer. “That broken leg saved your son’s life!”
The farmer simply replied...
“We’ll see.”
Grasping the Safety Bar
In the story above, which of the characters were letting go on the roller coaster of life…
And which were grasping the safety bar?
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu writes…
“Misfortune is what fortune depends upon
Fortune is where misfortune hides beneath
Who knows their ultimate end?
They have no determined outcome.”
The villagers were allowing their daily fortunes to rise and fall based upon their expectations, and their lack of trust in the world.
To them, everything appeared to be luck…
Luck driving fortune and misfortune...
Devastated when the roller coaster would fall…
Elated when it would rise.
The farmer, however, threw his arms up in the air and let go.
He let go.
He had no way of knowing the horse would return…
No way of knowing additional horses would come to him…
No way of knowing his son would break his leg…
No way of knowing that broken leg would save his son’s life.
And he has no way of knowing what will come next.
He let go and trusted the ride.
Controlling What Comes Next
Believe it or not, we cannot control what will come next.
And worrying about controlling everything in your future not only leads to anxiety, it causes you to not be present in the here and now.
Similarly, grasping on to the “misfortunes” of the past also lead us to not be present.
And when we are not present, we are not truly living.
When we are not truly living, we descend into the victimhood phase in which we lack trust for the world and, instead of saying, “we’ll see” when ups and downs occur, we grasp and grasp and grasp and feel trapped on the ride.
The source of this anxiety is a lack of trust.
The source of this lack of trust is our subconscious beliefs.
The source of these beliefs is whatever we’ve downloaded since we were born.
The good news is that you can identify, clear, and clean the beliefs that are causing you to white-knuckle your way through life.
You can reprogram to allow yourself to trust and let go.
It may not seem so right now, if you’re strapped into the ride and can’t seem to get off.
It first takes a conscious decision to change.
And, if you’re interested to make that change, I can help you make it happen.