Strife and difficulty will find us, and it doesn’t matter if we try to hide from it or run from it.
I’ve often told people that “I thrive on conflict”, but after sitting with the idea of “seeking out strife” I don’t believe that’s the right way to describe my relationship to strife and conflict. I think a more accurate description of my relationship to conflict is this:
I neither seek out nor avoid conflict and strife, but embrace whatever my fate may be in each moment.
Are there right-reasons for stepping into the arena of strife? Sure… if it’s not about us. Not about glory or fame. Not about renown or some twisted sense of honor.
Who is served by stepping into strife or conflict? Our egos? Is it just and right to engage? Are we stepping into strife with courage… or with bravery? (There’s a difference)
Why are we afraid of our own stillness? Why does peace make us anxious?
Why are we addicted to the story that comes along with wading into strife?
Piling our “plates” with too much responsibility IS seeking out strife. Why do we do this? “No one else will do it if I don’t.” So what.
Seriously. So what. Everything doesn’t need to be kept alive and afloat.
Sometimes, things need to end. It’s the natural way of things… endings are in accordance with nature…
… but, we hope that our full-plates and struggling will keep our story living on, and that will, somehow, bring our spirits the peace that eluded us in life.
Peace is here and now, and to find it, we must stop generating our own strife.
(See y’all tomorrow)
I’ve often told people that “I thrive on conflict”, but after sitting with the idea of “seeking out strife” I don’t believe that’s the right way to describe my relationship to strife and conflict. I think a more accurate description of my relationship to conflict is this:
I neither seek out nor avoid conflict and strife, but embrace whatever my fate may be in each moment.
Are there right-reasons for stepping into the arena of strife? Sure… if it’s not about us. Not about glory or fame. Not about renown or some twisted sense of honor.
Who is served by stepping into strife or conflict? Our egos? Is it just and right to engage? Are we stepping into strife with courage… or with bravery? (There’s a difference)
Why are we afraid of our own stillness? Why does peace make us anxious?
Why are we addicted to the story that comes along with wading into strife?
Piling our “plates” with too much responsibility IS seeking out strife. Why do we do this? “No one else will do it if I don’t.” So what.
Seriously. So what. Everything doesn’t need to be kept alive and afloat.
Sometimes, things need to end. It’s the natural way of things… endings are in accordance with nature…
… but, we hope that our full-plates and struggling will keep our story living on, and that will, somehow, bring our spirits the peace that eluded us in life.
Peace is here and now, and to find it, we must stop generating our own strife.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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