I definitely learned long ago to be fluid. I learned the hard way, ironically from martial arts. I had studied hard styles for years, and finally began looking into aikijitsu. Its whole premise is to flow with the energy instead of trying to force the energy. I began to notice that was my approach to life, not just in practice.

It's like that monkey with the jar story I heard years ago. You put food in the jar and the monkey will reach in and be unable to get his hand out because he refuses to let go of the food. His fist bunched up is to large for the opening.

Years ago I was walking with my son, and needed to stop to tie my shoe. I was barely bent over when the sound of tires screeching startled me and looking up, saw a car sliding sideways up over the curb onto the sidewalk where we would have been had I not needed to tie my shoe. It left an impression and the longer I thought about it over the next few days I came up with this:

If I had not stopped, we would have been hit. I did stop, so we were not hit. I had no say in any of that. The only control I had once I stopped was over how well I tied my shoe. That's all we can do, is the best of whatever we are doing in this moment. At least that's what I came up with. Any other outlook would have driven my natural tendency towards being an A type personality crazy.

Thank you for encouraging a dialogue on these topics when you post.