When feeling stressed, I believe there’s always an experience of being “out of rhythm.” Do you feel stressed because others are doing things differently than your rhythm? Or is it because you feel out of sync with the rhythm of the situation, time, or place?
When you are tuned to the perfect rhythm that the Divine has intended for you, it’s like a flawless orchestra. You can interact with everything other than yourself without stress, recognizing the talents in each relationship. Moreover, without even intending to, things flow harmoniously around you at a pace that far exceeds your conscious efforts. In that moment, it feels like you are on a “memory-free” ride, similar to what the locals (or “Lokos” in Hawaiian) describe as riding the perfect wave. All resistance and thought vanish; you simply exist, feeling fulfilled and accomplished without any comparison or competition. Your body rejoices in realizing, “This is perfection right now.”
And this isn’t about being on a beach in Hawaii. The perfect wave starts with you. Whether you’re at a train station turnstile, in front of a computer, or in a living room scattered with toys by children, the moment of living in that perfect rhythm can always be there when you find yourself, let go of excess memories, and entrust the control you’ve been holding onto to the Divine.
Living in rhythm doesn’t mean you need to change others. You don’t have to convince yourself of anything, nor do you need to give up on anything. You don’t have to wait for the right moment to catch that rhythm. First, you need to clean with the clutter of the past that’s currently filling your metaphorical surfboard. As you do, you’ll find yourself simply surrendering to the breath of the Divine, reclaiming your rhythm.
And I believe that now, more than ever, I need to live in this rhythm. All the things we took for granted, traditions, common sense, dreams, and desires – when they start to unravel and we begin seeing things from a different perspective, we should already deeply feel the need to live our lives at our own rhythm. And the inner child in us is already prepared. What’s left is to drop the heavy anchors of our preconceptions and remember our inner rhythm. The rhythm itself is the map, and that rhythm is your talent. When each of us regains our true rhythm, there will be no need to compete for resources, positions, or places.
“Peace begins with me.”
True to these words, by feeling the rhythm, each of us can find our own rhythm.
Peace,
Jean Nakasato
