By letting it go it all gets done.

 "The world is won by those who let it go...
but when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning."

 Do you know what? I wish I could keep those words firmly in my mind. I remember them sometimes but most times I don't and I struggle and I strive and get nowhere. Then I use up all my remaining energy telling myself I'm hopeless.

Struggle by Jaeson Ma

"Lao Tzu taught that all struggling, all striving is not only in vain but counterproductive. One should endeavour to do nothing (wu-wei). But what does this mean? It doesn't mean do nothing, but to discern and follow the natural forces -- to follow and shape the flow of events and not to pit oneself against the natural order of things." Adapted from Lao Tzu - Father of Taoism

Yesterday, with all the time in the world for creative writing (for once in my life), I battled and struggled to finish the last few paragraphs of a short story.

I did finish but it felt like pulling teeth, it took all day and I ended up exhausted and dissatified. It remains to be seen whether I think the writing is any good today...

This morning, I had a lesson on Alfie - part dressage, part jumping. Lao Tzu was with us, though he seems to favour riding oxen.

I didn't struggle. I didn't kick or whip Alfie just to get him to move from the spot. (That makes me sound Very Cruel - I'm not. I just have a very resistant horse!)

In our writing workshop, Meg Rosoff talked about throughness (discussed, too, in her very excellent blog) - the English translation of a German dressage term, Durchlässigkeit.

In our riding today, Alfie and I had great long moments of throughness - harmony and flow.

This was us in the summer, side-by-side, in perfect harmony. Today, that was how it was when I was riding him, my beautiful boy.


NOW - all I have to do is achieve the same feeling when I'm writing. Without struggling to achieve it...

Alfie wonders if I EVER listen to the lessons he tries to teach me.