Letting go your Outcomes - The pinball effect

Picture courtesy of The Smithsonian institution http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2940633609/

Check out an interesting blog on this Cassiopeia
 
Day 12 of Mind Alchemy and the discussion is around letting go.

On the surface of it, this concept seems somewhat against what we want to achieve, however it is about balance and using energy appropriately. It is also about allowing space to grow. There are many metaphors to explain this.


As a young lad I loved to go into amusement arcades and play the many games. I was attracted by the flashing lights and sounds. It was the excitement and atmosphere that was so attractive to me. Long before we had personal computers, I'd throw my 10 pence coins into computer games. 

Playing pinball was always a game I loved. The challenge of betting more lights up and scoring higher. Getting extra balls and replays. Sometimes the game would be frustrating. I'd so want to achieve that high score, but the balls would simply tumble down the centre or side channels all too quickly. The tension and angst I'd feel would have me putting coin after coin into the machine. 

Some days, I'd look at my watch and know I needed to be somewhere. Playing around in the arcade was just killing time. Playing that last game, I'd be relaxed, not worried about the outcome. And yes, you guessed it because I know you have had similar experiences. All of a sudden a multitude of extra balls come along and the score goes up, the lights flash and many replays occur! The times I've just had to leave!

The point of this is being relaxed and not crushing the goal or outcome. I'm convinced there is some sort of law of the universe that comes in to play here. 

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Another more profound example occurred for me a few years ago when I tried running my own business in network marketing. I got so much into the hype of what I was doing, I smashed it to pieces and burned out. I was ill for some months after that and it took a long long time to recover. 

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To that end, there is the day 5 exercise of Mind Alchemy that I have yet to finish. I will do it. Possibly later today. I'm aware that it would be foolish of me to put myself under too much pressure. I'm comfortable with having done most of it and maybe I've done enough of it to have the desired effect. I'll only know that when I go back to it. 
I've learned to trust in my gut feeling or intuition on these matters.