Mind Set Go

This is part of a letter I sent to some of my peers who I met at a program at the Y, Live Strong, a 3-month opportunity for those who have had or have cancer.  I met the most awesome people, and as we worked out together with the also awesome trainers, I wrote to everyone. I’m going to share some of what I wrote with you:

Hi guys.  I think you might be missing my words?  Haha.  How cocky can I get? 

I miss seeing all of you and sharing.  Sharing is a two-way street.  I think I received more from you than I ever gave.  I thought I’d try to share again.

I have been slowly working my way through some courses I purchased from a company called The Great Courses…  I haven’t gotten too far with the courses, but they interest me, and I essentially own them through the internet.  I think I can return to them any time I want to nibble on them to glean a little more information.  I believe the thing that is holding me back is that subconsciously I think I should remember what I hear in them and so instead of moving ahead, I keep returning to the first couple of lectures and re-listening.  Maybe now is the time to push forward. 

Anyway, today I woke up and decided to listen to a new (for me) lecture in David-Dorian Ross’s course in Tai Chi and Qi Gong.  Something he just said really resonated with me.  I was across the room quietly unloading the dishwasher, sort of listening, and I ran to the computer to listen to it again.  He said, “Commitment is never tested until things get tough.  Before that, it isn’t commitment.  It’s just easy.”

Well, my dear new friends, that pretty much sums up some of what we have been through.  (I am assuming what I feel is what you feel.  But, don’t you feel this, too?  I have no idea what each of you has been through; I don’t know what you’re going through right now.  And, I don’t begin to have the answers.)  I do know that this ancient concept of balance and of softness counteracting or interplaying with hardness is what affects our inner energy so many in the world call qi or chi. 

Sometimes life flows along, and we feel as if it is really easy.  It’s usually at times like that we believe subconsciously or otherwise, that our successes are a result of everything we are doing right.  And when things go awry, we tend to wonder, I believe, what we are doing wrong.  If we are committed, however, we will proceed passionately whether things are [seemingly] tough or easy.

I encourage each of you to find your passion to be committed.  Stay the course.  Cancer made things tough for us.  “Commitment is never tested until things get tough.  Before that, it isn’t commitment.  It’s just easy.” (David-Dorian Ross) 

I think we can stop blaming ourselves or others in this world, and we can work toward letting all that go.  We should all be committed to finding harmony in the world, in each other and in ourselves.  We truly have everything we need to do that.  We just need to be committed to finding (the) balance between the tough and the easy and staying the course in doing so.  Be kind to yourself.  We are all works in progress.  Each of us… struggling to find our way.  And that’s okay.  That’s part of the balance.  But can we lose the struggle-energy and find what is so simple and accessible to all of us?  How much of that struggle is self-generated and perhaps something we can release?

Keep the faith, smile and say, “I am whole, and I am committed.”  And that, my dear friends, I believe, is more than good enough.  That can change the world and us in it.

Cheers,

Nancy