Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.  Rainer Maria Rilke

I love sitting on my porch where I look into the tops of the trees and down into a creek. I feel like I’m sitting out in the woods, when in fact I am living in a pretty populated, urban-like area. Lingering over morning coffee I can hear the traffic in the background, even an occasional private jet from the local airport. But what I notice is that because I am so open to the stillness of the trees and the peace of the creek, none of these things disturb me.

Letting in the parts of life that we love helps move us beyond resisting the things we don’t like. Resistance, unfortunately, only causes more of the same thing we are resisting. Resistance is like glue. It makes us more aware of it and actually puts us in a dynamic relationship with the very thing we’d like not to have or experience. So stop paying attention to the traffic, and start paying attention to the trees. It doesn’t mean the traffic will disappear—it means you’ll stop being in caught in tension with it. Miraculously it will fade from your awareness.

Spiritual Contemplation: What things in my life am I resisting, thereby holding in my awareness. What could I pay attention to instead?

Affirmation: I let go of all resistance to this particular thing. I turn and let the beauty, joy, and abundance of life in. I am at peace.