Hope Floats

I spent my whole adult life struggling, fighting against the current. So adamant that I was going in the right direction. The world was wrong. It was continual cycles of bad luck and bad karma for something I had done wrong in a prior life. I was cursed. If I just tried harder, I'd break through. That's what I would tell myself.

What an extraordinary shift to have this new understanding that the universe wasn't working against me. It was working for me by making the wrong path unbearably hard. In hindsight, it seems so simple. But all the muck that gets piled on us really can block our vision. There are those, like me, who will double down in our determination without knowing how blind we are.

Now that the blinders are off and my vision is clearer, I find myself more aware of what comes easy and what doesn't. Increasing faith and more honed intuition are now my guidance system.

It still gets a little muddy sometimes and I still have to fight off old patterns of resistance, but I can tell you that those moments are far less prevalent now.

The things that fight against the current, I now remind myself that I can let them go.

• Some things I can swat away. I even envision a tennis racquet hitting away a tennis ball and I say to myself, "This isn't for me."

• In some situations, it can't be an immediate release and I have to keep reminding myself that whatever it is, it's temporary. If it's not caused by my old behaviors, I trust that it's a matter of timing. I'm being prepared for or protected from something. When it's hard, I understand that the call is there for patience or greater awareness to course correct. That is still something that I thank God for.

More and more often, I'm learning to float with the rhythms of life that surround me. Knowing that the current is still flowing, no matter where I am or how I feel, now brings great comfort.

We are held.

We are guided.

We all have a purpose to learn and to love.

No one is being punished with struggle and strife. Those are the clues to help us understand that we need to realign.

Hope floats - when you stop swimming against the current.