When I let go of what I am,
I become what I might be.
— Lao Tsu
One of the things I love about Kai Chi Do is that we meet without our story. How refreshing and liberating that is!
In most places in our lives, there are stories we habitually tell. Especially when we’ve just met someone and we’re trying to get them up to speed quickly on who we think we are. And we invite them to do the same. We tell our careers in answer to the inevitable question, “What kind of work do you do?” We tell about our families. We might even tell about those big life events that shaped our beliefs. Mistakes we’ve made. Or we tell our opinions – politics, the economy, the news, someone else’s mistakes.
But when I show up for Kai Chi Do on Sundays, I don’t know your story. You don’t know mine. We’re not dragging our past along with us. We’re not sharing our judgments and evaluations of life. We just meet in the moment. We enjoy the moment together, the beauty of the place, the aliveness we feel, in the moment.
It’s clean. We all get to start new.
We don’t tell our stories – We don’t need to . We define ourselves by the energy we bring in that hour. We reveal our identity through the safety we create for each other and for the group, the emotional vibration we project, the Life we allow to flow through us. We reveal the truth about who we are when we release and let go of all the stuff that stands between us and that brilliant flow of Energy. And when we are content with ourselves.
In that hour, we have the courage to let go of the stories we tell and be free.
I’ve been meeting with some of the same people for years of Sundays, and I know so much about them from our experience together. But none of it includes their story.
I know your name and probably a nickname that Tina has given you. I know your coordination and how it’s gotten smooth and graceful over weeks of Kai Chi Do. I know your intensity, your laughter, the sound of your voice. I know your smile and your T-shirts. I might know whether you can carry a tune. I know what you look like when you’re happy. I know how it feels to hold your hand.
I like meeting you in that place that is deeper than our stories.
“Welcome New Light” illustration by Cornelia Kopp, aka Alice Popkorn, on Flickr Creative Commons.