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Saturday 13 December 2014

Riding the Wave - letting life be your guide

Ride the Wave of Life - when caring can be too much!



When we care too much



Life grinds to a halt when we care too much and aren't prepared to take risks.

My first ride on the roller coaster at Chessington was a real revelation, teaching me a great deal about life and the way we approach it.  Roller Coasters were something I always avoided well into adult life.  When I finally steeled myself to do it,  I had a whale of a time, screaming much louder than anyone else on board,that's including the kids. Of course I clambered back on again and again and again, still screaming half fearfully, half in exhilaration ending the day with a red, raw throat. In spite of all that, I was thoroughly pleased with myself. 'I felt the fear, and did it anyway!' What's more it really did help my confidence.

Life's like that; full of things we would rather avoid but sometimes just can't afford to  Being aware of and accepting our feelings really does help up through, Life is indeed just like a wave with a whole series of  ups and downs. Embracing the wave gives us the confidence to embrace life. Trying to battle against the tide is self-defeating.

We need to befriend our feelings and fears. There's no point battling upstream when the currents carrying you in the other direction.  Each wave has a natural ebb and flow, just like any roller coaster, so we need to appreciate the ebb as much as the flow.  When we are aware of our feelings and what they mean for us, we can use the ebb to let go of our fears and use the momentum to move us forward.

Feelings are just that feelings..They are our friends. We've given them labels according to their intensity, but in reality its denying what we are feeling makes us feel worse and ready to explode at the slightest thing.

We dam our feelings up when we care too much what other people think. And we dam up our feelings to avoid being ridiculed.

It is a tough one this, but when we care too much about what other people think, we are not being true to ourselves.And we are damming up our feelings, caring so much about other people but at our own expense.

When I was on that roller coaster, each dip created enough momentum to keep moving forward. Life's like! Expressing our feelings creates the energy to let us move forward. I did lots of screaming as I have already said.This probably wasn't to everyone else's liking, but it was me being me.  It was me celebrating life like crazy. It was me living life on the edge pushing back my boundaries.  It was me having a whale of a time.  It was me embracing the wave, overcoming my fears and enjoying the ride.

We wrap ourselves up in a tightly spun cocoon in a bid for security, but this kind of security is claustrophobic, and also destructive. Letting go of our inhibitions and fears, expressing ourselves fully is the ebb, the force lying behind the flow. Ebb and flow go together like two peas in a pod. Security tell us to play it safe but also masks our fears, having us so bound up in a rigid cocoon that we cannot move forward 

So one question, do you care enough about yourself to let go or at least consider letting go of the fears that have stopped you from riding the wave of your own life. it's time we stopped and listened to the whispers of our Soul. I'd say you are worth it.  I'd say we are all worth it.  





2 comments:

  1. How I relate to every word you wrote, Gillian! Even to the point that I, too, did not ride a rollercoaster until adulthood. An old friend and my husband talked me into it one fateful day. The trick to it, I learned from Helen was to "keep your eyes open the whole time." What profound advice! Keeping my eyes open helped me face my fear then - and now. I wager I screamed louder than you did. :) Also, reading your insightful blog reminds me not to keep my eyes closed.

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    1. My goodness...what an event it would be to ride the rollercoaster together. Can you imagine the noise? But wouldn't it be fun?....I think the trick would indeed be to keep my eyes open and NOT avoid the stares of disbelief, shock and horror coming from everyone else....right on Sisterxx

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