In Aikido there is a practice called rondori, in which multiple attackers come at you from all directions, over and over. Some days life feels like that. Whether the things that show up are opportunities, challenges, or just there, it can feel a bit overwhelming, and once you get behind its hard to catch up. In rondori part of the practice is to select your opponents in an order that works for you, taking enough initiative to control the flow rather than simply reacting. Sometimes we can also do this in life, until that one thing shows up from your blind spot and throws you on your ear.
The egoic mind in its sense of isolation feels like this, that it must be always watching, anticipating, controlling, or it will get rolled under. This is a pretty tiring way to live your life. Between being alert and not getting down time we get worn out. You want to take a break, but the mind worries that when you take your eye off things something will pop up and bite you, or things might just fall apart when left on their own.
Spiritually we know that we live not as isolated egos creating and maintaining our world for our safety and survival, but as souls that are part of the web of life. No man is an island. We are a part of a larger whole. If we take a nap, the world is still there. If we take a vacation the world carries on. Our family and co-workers can usually be trusted to keep things going until we get back. Not everything has to be done right now, but will often keep until tomorrow. In fact letting things wait often allows time for them to resolve on their own, or for someone else to step up to handle them, or for the perfect piece of information to show up that shifts the whole matter.
Remembering that we are not alone, but part of an organic sentient web of life we can cultivate trust; trust the universe, trust spirit, trust our dance partners that we can step out for a bit and not have the whole world come down around our ears. Feeling the force we stop thinking and know what we need to do and the flow of the rondori is effortless. Trust that your higher self can see which things you really need to work with, and in what order, and know that if you miss one piece someone else will pick it up.
Allowing yourself to let go of the swirling world around you, you can find yourself; not as a reflection of all the things on your to do lists, but shining out from your own interior. Dropping into yourself you refresh, retune and learn how to express your soul in your piece of the weaving. Living from spirit you avoid being overwhelmed; breathing in and out, into Self and out into the world, you are centered and the rondori flows. May you find the grace to trust the rest of the universe enough to let go and find yourself.
(© 2/2011)
