Presence, Peace, Striving

I’m listening to Eckhart Tolle this morning as he tells the story of his awakening, and it reminded me of something I’ve seen again and again: we are so drawn to people who finally stop resisting.

When I was young, I was drawn to the work of Emerson and Thoreau. As I listen to Eckhart, I realize it’s because there was no more resistance in them. They exemplify what it looks like to let go.

When I let go of resisting my body—her weight, the pace she wanted to take—the release finally came. I let go of needing her to change. I let go of needing her to perform. And then the door opened.

I’ve heard this echoed by so many people facing all kinds of challenges.

When I met my husband at 20, I remember that just before meeting him, I decided I was done searching. I would just let it be. And then he appeared. I’ve heard the same story from others—when they stopped looking for love, love found them.

It feels like one of the secrets of the universe is to *stop looking*.

And yes, it’s ironic—because I teach, I practice, I guide—but at the center of everything I teach is the principle of letting go.

The women who find me are the ones who are ready to stop resisting, stop striving, and learn to *be* their vitality instead of search for it. It’s not that letting go involves no learning or change—of course it does—but the energy of striving is utterly different from the energy of being.

All change happens in the energy of being.

When we are striving, we are pushing. We are resisting. But the truth is: the energy of being is already here. We are the ones who can tune into it.

This is how I feel about detox, too. The more we fixate on the problems, the more the toxins seem to amplify. But when we stop striving to force them out and start being the one who is vital—who knows the next right step—then suddenly the practices that support vitality arise naturally. And then, wildly, the toxins begin to leave. The organisms begin to leave.

This is a principle you see throughout Chinese medicine: elevate the beingness, and the organisms cease to be the problem.

There are those who say mold simply shows us where the problems were already living. There are those who say Lyme reveals the unhappiness that was already there. Teachers have said these things, and they make me wonder:

How much of what we experience as illness or aberrant circumstance is simply highlighting where we’re striving or resisting instead of being?

And is part of the path simply to learn to let go?