dailydatewithgod

So much of how we see value comes from rightness.  Rightness means importance and success. It is only okay to rely on something if it correct.  It is only important if it has been proven to be right.  It deserves attention because it is right.  Within this focus on rightness and success, there is no room for the process.  If we do not travel the road to get to what is right bumbling our way there, will we ever get to what is right?  Does it only count or only have value when we have reached the destination?  What if in the course of our bumbling and getting it wrong we turn a corner which gets us to what is right?  What if in the bumbling we begin to ask questions we would not have asked if we knew the right way to get there in the first place?  I get it. We like the win.  We want the pretty trail with the flowers, but even the flowers grow out of the messy mud.  As Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist teacher says, “No Mud, No Lotus.”  I say, no bumbling no success.  We look to those who have achieved what we deem are right and good things and situations and presume it was some sort of smooth path. Yet if you look closer you would most likely, if people are honest, see lots of bumbling.  Some people can’t even articulate how they got to where they are.  In their eyes, they bumbled so much they are surprised they landed anywhere with substance.  I used to think there was something wrong with me if I didn’t have the right answer.  It is what they taught us in school, isn’t it?  It only counts if we have the right answer.  How many wrong answers does it take to get the right answer?  Maybe if we allowed more bumbling we would appreciate the success or the rightness much more because we value what it took to get to it.  Not to mention we would not have to get stopped in fear of wrongness on our path because we are so busy condemning ourselves for not having figured it out sooner.   Bumbling allows for breath, for pause, for reality, and for a compassionate heart.  When we can allow ourselves some bumbling on our path we can see it in others and recognize our kinship with them instead of seeing them as wrong.