When in pain, we seek to eliminate the pain.

When in conflict, we seek to resolve the conflict.

When in uncertainty, we seek to find grounding.

Mind you, there's nothing wrong with wanting to minimize pain, conflict, and uncertainty. In fact, it's something I am conscious of regularly. However, the way most of us go about it is often detrimental to finding the optimal solution.

Most of the time, we seek to do that as quickly as possible. End pain fast. Resolve conflict immediately.

It's our nature to do that. Unfortunately, that's more of our primal instinctual nature… not the higher consciousness nature we aspire to embody.

Here's a story from Guy Finley that illustrates this beautifully:

(and if you haven't downloaded his free “7 Steps to Oneness” audio program, click here.”

“The Prince and the Dark Horse”

That begs the question though: What can we actually do when we're between a rock and a hard place?

If it's ineffective and suboptimal to jump towards the first solution, and we require a solution, how do we find it?

One person might suggest waiting. Be patient. Ride it out and the problem will solve itself.

Sometimes that's true.

For example, let's look at what Thomas Moore wrote in his book “Soulmates” about this…

Rather than seeking to resolve the problem as quickly as possible, instead, allow and include the conflict to exist. Give it space. Stand inside the unknown and uncertainty.

In practicing that approach to difficult situations, what we come to see is simple. Forcing answers just leads us down the path of the “Dark Horse” like in that story.

The best and most optimal answer naturally arises when we give it a chance to. Instead of trying control the situation, accept that we don't and can't control it. Sure, we can influence it, but we can't control it.

Therefore, if we can't control a situation, the next best thing we can do is stay present. We can have faith. And we can acknowledge that whoever or whatever does control the situation will reveal to us the optimal information and/or solution when the time is right.

This is subtly different than just waiting. When we are “just waiting,” we are letting go of responsibility. We're saying “Somebody else will fix it.”

That's not effective, nor is it suggested.

Instead, when we can allow the conflict to exist, it gives us space to explore our options more fully. The longer we remain in this kind of conflict, the clearer a specific direction becomes.

We might feel inner nudges and intuition to go a certain way. More information may come forth that shows how a particular choice may be ineffective.

In other words, the unknown is always revealing more to us. And from that space, we are much more enabled to make decisions that are truly of the highest good… and not just made to alleviate the suffering and feelings of helplessness we feel inside.

Next time you have a difficult decision to make…

Instead of contracting, controlling, and trying to fix it completely…

Try giving it space. Expand yourself. Let go of the illusion of control. And trust that allowing all aspects of the situation to be explored will show you the information you need to make the most optimal decision.

Yes, sometimes situations require a fast response and a decision…

AND, when we practice the above on a regular basis, we discover that the time we need to “be in the unknown” and arrive at a solution becomes less and less.

We are also empowered to more quickly recognize when we're making sub-optimal decisions, and therefore, correct course more effectively before it's too late.

If you'd like support with this, be sure to download your free “7 Steps to Oneness” audio program from Guy Finley.

The post Between A Rock and a Hard Place – A Spiritual Lesson About Overcoming Adversity appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

And, without fail, the same incident happens. Sometimes it happens more than once.

A woman – sometimes it is a man – tells me about a trip she took to some remote part of the world. And she tells me about the people and her experience.

“They had nothing,” she says feelingly. “But they seemed so happy.”

And there is more than a note of wistfulness in her voice. A sense of unfairness. How could they have nothing and be so joyful while she had everything and can hardly wait for the sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care?

And that reminded me of a 60 Minutes segment on Darfur at the height of the refugee crisis. If ever there was a deprived population, it was the inhabitants of Darfur at that time. And in that hell hole there were kids who trailed the CBS correspondents, and they peered into the cameras with wonder.

And, at that instant, there was unquestionably genuine, unadulterated happiness radiating from them.

The people my student referenced, the children of Darfur, did not have hot and cold running water, reliable power, indoor toilets or air conditioning. They certainly did not have smart phones, or Internet or email.

But they did have the ability to make peace with their circumstance.

Kurt Vonnegut supposedly was with Joseph Heller at a party in Shelter Island given by a billionaire. He nudged Heller and asked him how he felt about the thought that their host made more in a single day than the cumulative sales of Catch 22 in its entire publishing history.

Unimpressed, Heller said that he had something that his host never would have. Vonnegut inquired what that was.

‘Enough,” replied Heller.

And there you have the dilemma of our society of stivers.

We have a gaping hole in our being, a sense that we are somehow incomplete, that we need something to make us whole.

And we try to patch ourselves up with attainment and accomplishment and acquisitions. We try to become famous and wealthy and powerful and accomplished.

But the hole remains.

It may even grow larger.

So here is a thought for you.

You cannot solve an internal problem with external action.

This article is from Professor Srikumar S. Rao. You can learn directly from him during his free masterclass “A System To Totally Eradicate Stress & Anxiety.”

Click here to register for Professor Rao’s free masterclass

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