Stop Paddling

3 min read
Picture this, you are in a canoe.  It’s just you on a river.  The current is strong and moving in the opposite direction.  You know where you want to go and you know you have to paddle hard to get there.  You are focused and intent on reaching your goal.  All of a sudden, you lose your paddle.  You have lost all control of the canoe and it slowly turns and starts moving in the opposite direction and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Now imagine that this story is a metaphor for your life.  Yikes!  You’re on the river of life with no paddle.  Today I’d like to suggest that maybe not paddling is a viable option in life or perhaps the only viable option in life.  I first heard of this idea through a presentation by Esther Hicks.  Esther Hicks is perhaps most well-known for her book on The Law of Attraction.  Now one caveat here, and I urge you not to shut off your minds just because this is a little out there, Esther Hicks channels a group consciousness or spirit called Abraham.

Okay, so life is a stream and we need to go with the flow and not paddle against the current.  But how do you stop paddling, how do you go with the flow?  Esther explains that you will know that you are paddling against the current if you feel a point of relief by doing something else.  For example, someone told me that I should join a particular association and go to their conferences.  So I went on to the association website and looked at the conference and the membership information and it caused me stress.  I really didn’t want to focus my attention on this association and go to their conference, but I thought I should because someone told me I should.

Then Ester’s words came back to me, choose what makes you feel better not what makes you feel worse – choose what gives you relief.  I realized I’d been paddling toward the association and that this was my point of relief.  I realized that I would feel relieved if I left the association’s website and put the whole idea of joining it out of my head.  And I did feel better.  I hit the exit button and felt instant relief – I went from negative emotion to positive emotion.  I realized that I had been paddling toward the association because someone said I should go in that direction and now I was back going with the flow.  Every time we make the choice to do what feels better and not worse, it is our point of relief and it turns us in the direction of the current again.

So I encourage you to stop paddling.  Listen to your positive and negative emotions and go in the direction of what makes you feel relief or feel better.  You’re not lazy or unfocused.  You’re just creating a life filled with positive emotion.  So, drop your paddles and see where it takes you!

You can view a short video of Esther Hicks speaking on the stream of life at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTMx3LFCuPE