Be the feather.
March 18, 2022
I’ve been struggling a bit lately with an issue that’s got me searching. Maybe the words for it are more like this:
I’m seeking to understand how to let go of some things I simply can’t control.
By the way, the older you get the more you realize that you can’t really control much in life. And geez, after this pandemic you’d have to be a jelly fish not to feel a wee bit of “not in control” anxiety, right?
This issue, I’ll spare you from the details because that’s not my point, is something that is absolutely not mine to control. I know that with my head but in my heart, I really, really want to have a say so in how things go. Ever been there? So anyway, I’ve been researching “letting go” like I’m writing a senior thesis on it.
I’m hard wired to seek knowledge when I’m stumped.
Today I had a conversation with someone I admire a lot and she said something that was just an ah-ha moment for me. She said, “Do you remember in the movie Forest Gump how this feather would just randomly blow past Forest? I said, “Yes. Sort of.” Then she said…
“Be the feather. You can’t be the wind.”
Don’t you love that idea? Truly the only time we feel angst is when we want to control something that we’re not able to control. Sounds so simple but it’s hard, hard work to accept this lack of control.
At least it is for me.
My mother used to have two simple responses to almost any concern or worry I’d share with her.
1. This too shall pass.
2. And you’re stronger than you think you are.
Sometimes her steady answers to any concern (large or small) used to… well, annoy me. Especially when I was in those “everything is a crisis” teen years. But lately I’ve come to realize how brilliant she was to repeat these phrases like mantras whenever confronted with a troubling issue. Because if there’s two things I’ve learned about this life we’re given, it’s these:
Everything does change and we’re all much, much stronger than we think we are.
I just loved being reminded about Forest Gump, which then led me to reflect fondly of my mom. Forest never talked himself out of any opportunity. He walked into every situation with the eagerness and empathy of a child. He was like the feather, simply being guided and energized and delighted by the wind. He didn’t fight its force or lack of force or scream when the wind didn’t blow the way he wanted it to. He just saw joy and comfort and opportunity in the randomness of the ride.
So be the feather.
You cannot be the wind.
P.S. One other random fact, did you know that in Native American culture a feather falling in your path is a sign that you’re on the right path. I love when it happens to me. I see it like a wink from the Universe. Life holds a lot of magic if you keep your eyes open.
