Our Control or Beyond it

"Everything happens for a reason"..." There is a plan".."you make your own destiny"..."you are in control" Some phrases that we may hear or thoughts we think and I have stopped to wonder do we realize or ever feel that they seem contrary to one another. I find that it can feel a bit confusing to know how to work with the idea of both being in control and out of control all at the same time. Life presents us with situations in which they can be deemed as good or bad in which even those terms are up for interpretation. Sometimes when we are searching for answers in perhaps our darkest times we feel at a loss. Not knowing if it is us that has created a situation or outcome or we are at the mercy of fate... the universe.. a divine being you believe in or whatever the case may be, but what is the "truth"? what is the "reality"?

There is the reality that we do make our own decisions in life and we choose paths and options that we hold responsibility for. It becomes quite the conundrum or quandary when things don't go as we may think they would or want and we ask ourselves what happened? Did we call this to ourselves as we designed or was there a greater hand at work than us? Even in saying did we call this to ourselves when things are not as we wanted may not make much sense to us, but sometimes we don't realize that beyond our conscious scope, what we REALLY wanted is what came to us. There lies the debate of was that our doing or a greater force at work. Does this start to paint a even more confusing picture for you yet? I don't have an answer to that really. As always my blogs are to create thought and stimulate the ability to ask yourself these questions in which to delve deeper into self. There is always something to ponder in our lives in which moves us to personal growth. This is just one more thing. A very important thing to think about. It has a profound impact on how we navigate through our lives. It tests the core of our most primal natures, intuition, trust and faith in ourselves and the force that moves us that we live with and among everyday. My sneaky suspicion is that both are in work with one another.

If this is true then what can be done to make these concepts as one in our own minds and lives. Often what the challenge is in our lives is that we are divided in thought. We also are creatures in our nature that need and want to be in control. We as individuals find it hard to think that our decisions and eventual outcomes are part of some great energy or determined plan already set for us. So then what do we say about this concept of : are we in control or or not in control? We then have to think about are we players in the game or not? Are we the character or controlling the joystick. There is this this rethinking of all the authors and gurus that encourage us to have visualization of what we want from the Universe. Churches preach faith, "ask and it shall be given to you". What do we do with that? These are all action motivated stimulators implying we have the control to make something happen in our lives. We can become convinced that things are within our control. Then, one day that job you applied for doesn't pan out or that relationship you so thought would work, ends and you hear so often this recycled phrase " if it's meant to be then it's meant to be.." I find that a paradoxical phrase in itself. Everything and anything can come under interpretation, even dependent on who the hearer is. That phrase is a loaded gun, in which one can believe that the meaning implies at some point there is a predestination that determines the outcome of a situation. You just don't know if YOUR "meant to be" is what you want or not and when it's coming. When I say depends on who the hearer is, I mean that say healthy positive perspective of a person may think " well this could mean this may or may not happen and I am good with that." Another person struggling with the outcome of a situation or waiting on one, may have a false hope. They start to think : oh there is a possibility". They live in that "possbility" as a their "present" and not the reality of " now",the present. Still confused?

There is no set answer as to each is their own thoughts on this.. I am just expressing my own questions and thoughts. I pose the question of is there a possibility that our paths are set but we do have the free will to make decisions and the ones we make are but slight detours along the way to a final destination? What destination is another question in which need not to be delved into at this time. I find there is a certain anxiety in this discussion. You wonder.. "Am I making the best decisions for my life and am I on the "right" track" . We'd like to almost take solace perhaps in the fact that some things are just gonna "work out" for the best by another force's will and design and that in the end we won't have to really think or worry about it at all. In reality that is where I believe we should and would want to all be... The feeling of utter trust that our lives are somehow working themselves out. We all tend to incessantly live in our heads. As my friend says "play the game" we love the drama and entertain it. We stay in constant confusion and even when we feel we have found an answer to making these two worlds of control and lack thereof co exist, we still wonder " is this right? " or we are never satisfied with the answer! Perhaps we will never truly know. There is bliss in surrendering. In trusting our deep soulful intuition that has been given to us and letting life take it's course. There is bliss in taking full responsibility for the decisions we have made and embracing them.. the hardship and the joys. Yet we all know that we have to show up for life. We have to contribute. Our bodies don't move without our willing them to do so. We take breathes because we decide to allow them to be inhaled and exhaled. We know that a roof over our heads and food on our table don't come by sheer intention alone. There is a joint partnership that happens on this trek of life. I would suffice to say that life itself on this earth...each day comes along whether we want to show up or not. Time comes and goes whether we participate or not to use it's constant ticking in our lives. This is some evidence that things do have its course. We just need to know where we fit in. Let us all find some symbiance in these concepts being in control or not in control. I think that when we do, we will find that our minds will be a much quieter space in which we could manifest outwardly a place of Peace and Joyful surrender in our lives.

with soul,

Artistic Soul