The Spiritual Chicks: Are you still wearing last season's ideas?

12/04/02

The Spiritual Chicks^{^SM} Speak Out!
Are you still wearing last season's ideas?

While The Spiritual Chicks aren't slaves to fashion, there is something to be said for keeping our thinking current, even if it means throwing away ideas that served us pretty well just a short time ago. It's easy to see why we would give up attachments to things that did us more harm than good-like a drug habit, or a pair of really tight pants. But what's less obvious is that even the good stuff has to go when we don't need it any more. Think of the those square-toed boots-they may still be in mint condition, but they're so 2001 that we'll never wear them again. Say, for example, you grew up in a contentious family and you always played the part of the peacemaker. The ability to smooth things over may have saved your butt as a child, but now that you're out on your own, it's not your responsibility to go around agreeing with everyone no matter what-in fact, it may be pretty liberating to finally admit that you do have an opinion! And that doesn't mean that what you did as a kid was wrong-just because an idea doesn't work for us now, doesn't invalidate all it may have done for us in the past.

There is a great story about the Buddha that talks about coming to a river along a path. To get across, we may need to build a raft-a good sturdy one that gets us through the rapids. But once we're on the other side we need to leave the raft behind if we want to continue on. No matter how great the raft is, it would only slow down the rest of our journey to carry it on our back. We can meet life's challenges as they come, so there is no need to hold on to those things and ideas that we may need again at the expense of moving forward. From last year's shoes to Buddha's raft , from spiritual rituals to exercise regimes, it's all the same-when we get to where we're going, it's OK to give up the vehicle that got us there, no matter how great it was. When we give up what no longer serves us, we offer it up for someone else's use, and make room to receive what we need now.