Easy-going

I feel like life was meant to be easy.  I believe the world was created with the potential for all living beings to live fully, abundantly, and in harmony with each other, receiving all the gifts that the lands and climates offer us.  Too many years of trouble, toil and strife have left us with the world we now have today.  It's not a great success story for a myriad of complex reasons.  But now I feel like we have an opportunity to say "no" to what we experience as not beneficial to our survival, and to say "yes" to a way of living that puts equanimity at the forefront, and moves us toward the potential for harmonious co-habitation. 

Quite a few years ago I was browsing through a local art fair on a sunny summer day.  At that time, I had a full-time job working within the gallery community of a large city.  While this work suited me, there were lots of pressures and deadlines to meet.  I felt like my job should have been more fun, rather than pressured and hectic.  At the fair, I strolled past a booth belonging to a man of Asian heritage.  His watercolors were lovely-- light, colorful, and flowing.  I found myself captivated by one image of a bright, telescope goldfish with flowing fins.  I bought it and asked what the Asian inscription on it meant.  He said, "Easy-going."  I loved that!  It felt like a message to my heart.  Something about backing off of the "strive to survive" mindset I had adopted toward work and life, and opening up to a whole new way of living that was more focused on "being" than "doing."  After many years of deep growth and life changes, I can now say that this is the life I am living.  My life is a wonderful experience of Being, where this being dictates to my "doing," not the other way around.  I would call it "easy-going," and it is joy-filled.

So, I shared this story to say that I wish for everyone a life that is "easy-going."  I think each person has to find the path on their own journey that leads to easy-going, but I strongly believe that this is the way we were intended to live as humans on this Earth.  Sending you all Love, and Joy, and Light.

"May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be safe.

May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.

May all beings be free."

        --Metta prayer, from the Buddhist tradition of loving-kindness