6 min read

What blocks your flow, what sets you free?

We all get stuck sometimes, that’s the nature of life. As is the nature of our mind to set us free. We suffer, we learn, we grow, we change. And so on.
What blocks your flow, what sets you free?
Maxi the elephant, who stole my heart in 2015 during a life-changing trip to Laos. “Pull yourself out of bad ways as an elephant raises itself out of the mud.” The Dhammapada, chapter 23

I have a set of index cards that I glance at daily as part of my morning ritual, on which I’ve written a bunch of quotes, prompts and questions. They serve to remind me of what matters, which is especially helpful when the part of me that doubts, forgets.

It’s a practical and powerful reminder that there is wisdom, insight and assurance that I can call on, which comes from the part of me that already knows and deep down believes, in spite of appearances and beneath the heavy feelings, that I have the confidence and resolve to keep going.

That’s the thing with we humans, woven as we independently and interconnectedly are, through familial, social and cultural lines – we are made of many complex parts, each are valid, each hold sway at different times, each are part of the whole, only sometimes, some parts of us get quieter or louder, or temporarily sidetracked or amplified.

The path that sets us back on track, the key that unlocks the trap of mental or emotional anguish, what returns us to wholeness, is knowing which part is present, being aware of the tug and the weight of it, and being committed to finding a way onward – by remembering, reconnecting and realigning with the bigger picture of who and how and what we are.

Readers old & new, thanks for being here!

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