(The Sun enter Taurus. Mercury goes retrograde. A look back to see forward.)

Likely uttered in his native Tamil, Ramana Maharshi was quoted as saying, “Whatever is meant to be, will be, no matter how hard you work to prevent it. Whatever is not meant to be, won’t be, no matter how hard you work to realize it.”

In other words, there is a constantly unfolding script for our lives, over which we have no control.

All the practices of all the major world religions and mystical spiritual traditions down though the ages have in common the overarching aim of surrender, a kind of love for things as they are.

Things happen through us, not to us. Whatever it is you are experiencing outside, whether it is delightful or detestable or some variation of both, there is a very good reason for it. In most cases, you can’t know that reason and so this understanding begets trust.

Void of trust, we worry. We dim our light. We go looking for help. We grovel. We beg. We can even get into despair, depression, and deeper states of darker consciousness. It all begins in a trust deficiency and there may be very good reasons for it, especially in cases of trauma.

Fortunately or unfortunately, trust has to be broken in order for trust to be developed. Those who have come out on the other side of serious loss can understand: our gratitude and compassion deepens in loss, not as much on beautiful, sunny beaches.

Anxiety is a healthy sign. Even Søren Kierkegaard was on to this when he said, “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”

Trust has been ruptured. Anxiety has set in. Now, you have the opportunity to find your way out. Before, likely, you were just following the program and getting along, yet something felt absent.

Your attention is focused. You have become aware. It is not comfortable but it is healthy — spiritually speaking. Of course, serious chronic anxiety should be treated professionally but its trust-based roots are the same, and eventually they will need to be pulled out.

So we journey into ourselves. And the more we journey, the more we experience kismet, synchronicities, small and big miracles, little signs that let us know we are on the right path — even if we feel terrible. These keep us going and mostly sane.

You eventually start to realize your glorious powerlessness and how everything unfolds according to plan, just like a movie.

Every beat is choreographed.

You are in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, doing the right things. It can’t be any other way, otherwise it would be. That’s simple logic.

And so you start to choose for what is, start to see the beauty of it, start to drop the “change agenda” and let things be as they are.

Change is a given. No two sunsets are the same. It just happens on its own timeline, like a ripening fruit. Surely you should work towards it, but with a commensurate degree of detachment.

Just be.

Suggested Use: Have pen and paper ready. Read this post once. Then read again, a little more slowly. Pause. Reflect. Journal any connections or intentions that come to you. Come back a few days later, and read again. Repeat. Only take what resonates. Leave the rest behind, and kindly share if you feel another could be benefited.