Allowing Life to Unfold

Trusting the Road Ahead

“Your life is already organized within itself,” Merlin said. “Life flows from life, the bud unfolds into the flower, the child ripens into the adult. Trust each stage, celebrate it, and allow the next one to come to you effortlessly.”
Deepak Chopra (The Way of the Wizard)

One of the finest things about getting older seems to be the gradual relaxing of the ego. This is especially true after retirement, when days unfold in a very different way—no alarm clock shocking you into alertness, no deadlines unless they are chosen, no boss’s expectations dictating the direction of the day, and no underlings whose productivity has to be engineered. Just a day, open to the possibilities and potential serendipities of life.

Of course, retiring is harder for some of us than for others, especially if we’ve been the boss, and derived our self-worth and satisfaction from the position we held. In that case, retirement feels a little like death. And it is in a way—death of the ego’s need for control and status. When one is used to making things happen, striving for perfection in all things, and eliminating anything that smacks of deadwood, retirement can feel like going quietly into that not-so-good night. These folks usually become active leaders in charities and civic organizations so they can feel ‘useful’. That’s not a bad thing. We need leaders with experience. But very few of us simply allow life to unfold as it does.

What if, whether we’re still employed or retired, we could set aside just one day for non-control, for allowing, for seeing what naturally arises; would we end up being more productive in the end? Would the right course present itself to us without effort if we had the patience to allow it to come of its own volition? Would the day unfold into something much more real and livable without our stressful pushing of the envelope? Who knows? Why don’t we just give it a try today!

In the spirit,
Jane