Shades of Okay

I look forward to Wednesday evenings. It's when I host Group Mentoring. We hop on Zoom, take some time to see what's on our minds, and go where the inquiry and knowledge takes us. We meditate together and then dive into a specific question or subject that someone has sent in. This week, Larry (one of our group members) was filling us in on his week. It was filled with many challenges and demands, but (in true meditator fashion) he was feeling okay. Then, he dropped a major knowledge bomb:

"Okay comes in a variety of different colors."

So wisely stated. Folks tend to think that the only acceptable emotion to feel is happiness. Anything else that comes up is not okay. What causes our suffering isn't the emotion itself, it's our opinion of the emotion.

Stress also gets in the way of feeling okay. If we're constantly being hijacked by fight or flight, your body isn't going to allow you to feel okay. In that reactive state, the body believes it's in mortal peril...not a conducive state for feeling okay.

You'll often hear meditators say things like, "My life is a lot right now. There are so many demands and challenges being thrown my way...but I'm okay. I shouldn't be okay...why am I okay??"

It's because we've changed our notion of what it means to be okay. When stress isn't ruling the day, we're able to choose how to respond to life's demands rather than blindly reacting. The more we practice, the more adaptive we become. So, when life throws big changes of expectation our way, we're able to gracefully roll with the punches.

As we continue to practice taking it as it comes, we become a lot more tolerant of everything; including our emotions and life circumstances. When we're established in Being and solid in our capability, we find we're okay even in the midst of life's greatest challenges.