Cultivate a Natural Responsiveness to Life

Now is the time to cultivate a natural responsiveness to life. What does that mean? It means developing more comfort with an easy-going attitude that is your most uncontrived way of responding to the unfolding nature of your life. Your life unfolds with many opportunities and possibilities in every moment. No moment is ever the same as the last or the next. There is a unique configuration of possibilities in every moment that unfolds. To become able to perceive each moment as this unique configuration of possibilities, you need an experimental attitude, a sense that each and every step you take, no matter how big or small, will be a step in a direction for which you have enthusiasm.
An experimental attitude does not focus on protecting yourself from any perceived harm or challenge, but is an attitude that is willing to explore with a genuine sense of the most likely outcome to be something of value. You do not approach each moment trying to achieve something or to get somewhere, but instead encounter the moment’s possibilities and opportunities that arise. This is natural responsiveness. A natural responsiveness has the quality of a deeper notion of self-confidence and self-acceptance within it. You are who you are, and without trying to be someone else, and without trying to hide your true nature, relax into your authentic presence.

​Life is filled with ups and downs, things change all the time. This is the divine revelation of impermanence—of nothing remaining the same. It is the coming and the going of things in cycles upon cycles of expressions of life. You and everything are One Life--All That Is—an expression of impermanence as non-static perfection. In that state of perfection, your response is simple. It is to be who you are in that moment’s unfolding possibilities. This may seem like the removing of an old identity that is fixed and habitual in favor of revealing or allowing a deeper identity to shine through more clearly. Don’t allow the old stories, old concerns, old habits to dictate your response, instead allow the pure intrigue and enthusiasm of the moment to inspire you.
 
You tend to make a story seem particularly important when actually any story is only a momentary fixation on a version of reality. Anything that seems utterly important and significant is likely blinding you from seeing some of the possibilities the moment truly holds. These kinds of stories can generate a sense of responsibility,  or a contrived response. We are suggesting a much more spontaneous responsiveness, free of importance and significance not to trivialize the response, but to set it free from all holding patterns and fixations which get in the way.
 
A natural responsiveness to life is dependent on knowing that whatever comes up, you are able and willing to respond with confidence that your response is appropriate. This knowing is your inner security. You can feel secure in yourself and can stop seeking external means of verifying your security.
It is easy to get lost in thinking you need this or that to feel secure, when all you really need is the confidence in yourself that you will respond to any arising possibility as an opportunity to be your naturally responsive, uncontrived self.
 
We are not speaking of a passivity, or a reluctance to engage, but a true response to life as it unfolds rooted in a natural state of loving kindness. Once you realize that One Life is loving kindness, accepting what is unfolding while allowing a natural response to it, is like dancing joyfully while standing still simultaneously. Nothing is one-sided in a sense—everything is everything at once. Let One Life—the All That Is—have the responsibility, while you simply respond in the moment with such complete acceptance and confidence that your response becomes effortless.
 
How does a natural responsiveness allow for plans to be made, and for appointments to be kept? First, realize having a plan while continuing to embrace the mysterious outcome of every moment can arise from a knowing that spontaneity is not diminished just because there was a plan. If you try to take responsibility for everything that arises and effort to make every moment to be what you want it to be, you will get caught in a conundrum that will limit seeing the opportunities inherent in each moment. There is a balance to be discovered in which you can make plans and have appointments and still experience your most natural responsiveness to each and every moment. It requires simply removing the notion that the plan is more important than the moment’s unfolding. Having a plan still leads to an infinity of possible outcomes just as spontaneity always leads to an infinity of possible outcomes. A plan cannot limit you, only your attachments to that plan can limit you.
 
The moment, all that is in that moment, is what generates the outcome. A plan does not give you control of the outcome, it’s just a convention used to coordinate with others and with the world. If you are attached to your plan, you are probably insecure and lack confidence in your natural responsiveness. Most likely you believe that with greater control, you can protect yourself from difficult outcomes and insulate yourself from the possibilities that are unforeseen. This is a common but ineffective strategy. Just be who you are, let go of control and trust ever deeply that your most natural response to anything arising will be exactly what should be and lead to another mysterious moment filled with possibilities and opportunities, all the dynamic play of One Life .