GO WITH THE FLOW

This gorgeous place that I swim every day has a sign at the top that reads "No Safe Swimming. Deadly unsafe currents have killed 14." So I get a lot of questions when people see me there every day with my swim gear! It is true that it is unsafe, if you don't know how to deal with a strong ocean current and don't know where the channels in the reef are that suck people out to sea. There are days that I can't fight the current even though I swim there daily, so I just have to get out. This daily shifting in the flow of the current got me pondering the phrase "go with the flow". I have read and heard SO many times that we need to learn to go with the flow and not fight it, and if we are not in the flow then we are going the wrong direction. My experience in the water and life has taught me something else.

Sometimes the "flow" is taking you someplace that you don't want to be, or someplace that is dangerous. Like being swept out to sea, or joining the majority in making destructive choices for this planet. In times like these we actually need to work to NOT be swept away by the flow, and find our way out. As an example, my parents just moved to a new city and my Mom called 6 different stores looking for recycled toilet paper so she wouldn't be contributing to cutting down trees! Go Mom! She could have just "gone with the flow" of whatever they had in the first store she went to. Too many people just LET themselves be part of the flow and continue to make choices that are harming themselves and the home we all live on, because it is too much "work" to not do harm, and mainstream society has set up this path that is not aware of the consequences of their actions.

No-one likes being told they are doing harm. When I bring it to someone's attention that they are harming themselves or someone else or the Earth by the enviro choices they are making, there is a large range of responses, from actually thanking me for bringing their attention to whatever it is, to making me the villain for "attacking" them. From me it always comes from the same place, GREAT love and compassion for the harm that is being done and a sincere desire to lessen or eradicate that harm. It never comes from a desire to be cruel to whoever that person is. I have no control over how they perceive my showing them the harm they are causing. I can do my best to be gentle, but their reaction depends on their own mental, emotional and spiritual health and their ability to face difficult truths. Some people actually WANT to know the harm they are doing and welcome someone who is brave enough to help them see it. Others somehow think that in pointing out how they could make different choices to lessen the harm they are doing, that I am being nasty or unkind. It becomes about me, rather than what they are doing, and takes the focus off themselves which is really where it needs to be. There is a HUGE risk in showing people how they are doing harm, because so often they turn on me in very negative ways. I will always be grateful for the ones who don't turn it into being about me, but rather are willing to really look at the harm they are doing and make different choices.

So why do I keep trying to show people they are doing harm when it is so painful and risky? Because I believe it honors the truth that LIFE calls us to. I believe God, or the Life Force, or whatever you want to call that power, does not want us to harm ourselves, others or this magnificent creation. I could just stay silent and observe all the harm being done, but then my silence is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Speaking up is difficult, but imperative if anything is going to change. And so I continue to step out into sometimes very painful interactions, rather than going with the "flow" of what people are doing that is harmful.

I would like to propose something radical. Be one of the ones who swims against the current! Don't just get swept along with the millions of people who "go with the flow" and are not interested in looking at the harm they do. Be willing to look at the harm you do and ways to lessen that. And be brave enough to challenge those around you to make choices that bring healing rather than harm to this Earth and themselves both. Imagine a day when the "flow" of the majority actually sweeps you toward CARING for our beautiful home! Let's build a new current. Will you help?
Thanks for listening.