Pseudo-Zen, and My Choice to Embrace What Is

I call it, "pseudo-Zen."

When it doesn't really matter what you choose, think, say, believe, want... why fuss? Why waste all the energy getting all fussed about something over which you have no control?

The truth is, we have a lot less control than we think, anyway. 

We can't force someone to think or feel something they don't and/or won't. We can't force nature (including our own body) to do what it doesn't/won't. We can't force time. We can't predict the future. We can't bring back the past. We can't do much by force - we can't even force ourselves to immediately think and feel something we simply don't. It just doesn't work that way.

So, that's when pseudo-Zen kicks in.

If there is something positive and constructive you can do, do it. If not, just pause, take a deep, slow breath to help you ground yourself back to here and now so you can make an honest choice, and choose to let go. However you define it: letting God(s)/Goddess(es) take over; allowing the Universe to work its way; letting what will be, to be; allowing yourself to blend into the Energy of All and permit it to embrace you.... Whatever it is, just do it. Stop the pointless fuss.

Sounds a lot like Zen, huh? The difference is, it's more a painful surrender to powerlessness than embracing the power of the choice. A quiet defeat. Claiming the loss and accepting the grief. Rather than surrendering to the greater power of setting yourself free, it's more like surrendering in order to survive against despair. When there is so little energy that there is nothing left with which to fight, choosing to let go is a matter of grasping that last, slender thread, and holding on to hope that somehow, it will be enough, for now.

But in those moments, it kinda ends up working in a similar way, anyway. By letting go, you allow yourself the chance to rest, recharge, and open the way for self-compassion and reevaluating priorities; a new focus on creating direction for your power. Basically... beginning to create/embrace Zen... as I know it, anyway.

Better days ahead, my friends!