“Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light.”

–Eckhart Tolle

“In the end, bless the darkness, hold the light, because the two aren’t divisible.”

–S. Kelley Harrell

Now more than ever, our resiliency needs to show up in our everyday humanity.

We all have the capacity for resiliency.

Resiliency doesn’t come from having a charmed life, not having to deal with stress, nor facing obstacles that get in our way or living in a bubble.

Rather, it’s something that we cultivate, like building energy for better strength and conditioning.

In much the same way as the Taoist idea of Investing In Loss, imagine the darkness you face is like a ghost that you are playing with rather than fighting.

Just as an example, you might lose a game 99 times out of a hundred.

But if you lose 99 times and you are paying mindful attention about your partners moves, you can learn their tricks, and spring the trap to win the 100th game. Your mindset of losing shifted, like the saying, “if you had fun, then you won.”

That’s Investing In Loss in a nutshell.

Because you remained open, let go of perfectionism, and learned that it’s the process that matters along the way.

As you are shadow boxing in front of a mirror, imagine yourself awakening to shades of your hidden self.

Perhaps blind spots will be revealed when you allow the light to come in, and shine brightly on your soul.

Just as an example, do you remember learning how to ride a bike or how to swim?

Some of us never did learn how to do either for different reasons.

But most of us who did learn how to ride, and swim know that novel learning curves didn’t come without falling off our bikes or getting water up our nose.

Somehow, most of us made it through learning a sometimes painful new skill without losing a limb from the bike accident or drowning in the water.

And most of us got back on the bike, and back in the water without developing PTSD from falling or sinking.

So how do we allow ourselves to be mindful of the present moment in everyday life?

I remember an old High School teacher who recommended a book called The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, during my Senior year. I didn’t read the entire book till after I graduated from college. But I remained intrigued, and never stopped looking forward to reading it

In fact, the Peaceful Warrior message resonated so much that I read some more of Dan’s books after that, and then watched the film adaptation many years later, after it came out in 2006.

Check out the short video below that reinforces his mindful approach to life’s everyday moments:

May all beings be free from suffering, awaken to Inner Peace, and open up to the realm of Cosmic Consciousness,

Ari