Living a Life of Jumanji

We all remember the popular movie, Jumanji, where the characters were transported into a board game of wild shenanigans and crazy, unexpected situations that were totally outrageous.  Occasionally, I stop what I am doing in mid-state-of-bizarro days and ask myself if I am in an alternate universe or simply a life of Jumanji where I can’t seem to gain a rational foothold.

            On any given day I might experience erratic behavior by others in my line of sight or weather that pivots from a sweaty 85 degrees to a bone chilling 30 the next day.  Sudden changes of mind or schedule, moods swings of friends, plans that are on one day and off the next are the new way of being.  Yes, change has always been a part of life but for the past couple of years, change is the name of the game.

            All of these things bring me back to reminding myself that suffering and unhappiness originates in the state of expectations of how things SHOULD be.  And of course, the “shoulds” all conform to the law of life according to me, myself and I.

            In describing the premise of my first book, “Letting Go, to a TV interviewer recently I actually listened to what I was saying.  Being attached to outcomes as we believe they should happen is the source of pain.   Let it go.  Being attached to what should happen is the source of suffering.  Let it go.  Along with taking 3 deep breaths in times of stress, I’m now adding these words to the intake and expulsion of the breath.  Let it go.  Let it go.  Let it go.