No matter how far
your heart moves
away from God
He has gone nowhere
He is everywhere
inside and around you
whispering
I love you
if only you are willing
to hear
WILLING TO HEAR
By Robert Van Valkenburgh
Meditations of a Gentle Warrior
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The willingness to be helpful goes a long way.
As you go through life, you will see the people around you struggle.
They will go through hardships, challenges, and difficulties.
Sometimes you can help them, but other times you cannot.
This may be because you do not have the resources to do so.
Perhaps they do not want your help.
Or maybe there is simply nothing that can be done.
Your presence, in these instances, may be all you have to offer.
You can be there for and through the struggle, willing to help in any way you can, even if you can’t.
This willingness is not a hollow sentiment.
If you mean it, it means something.
It matters.
Your presence and your willingness matter.
In fact, sometimes your presence and willingness to help may be the thing that gives the other person the strength to survive hardship, to overcome challenges, and to push through difficulty.
Your willingness can become someone else’s strength.
Let people help you.
You do not have to struggle by yourself.
You are not alone.
There are people who have been where you are, who are on the other side of whatever you are going through, who want to help you overcome whatever challenges you are currently facing.
Seek them out.
Ask for help.
Do not let pride, shame, prejudice, or insecurity block you from your potential.
These attitudes only serve to keep you alone and afraid.
Humility, openness, and compassion are your allies.
WIth these on your side, you cannot fail as long as you are willing to do the work.
Willingness goes a long way.
There is no use being envious of people for reaping the benefits of doing things we were never going to do anyway.
If someone has something we do not, whether it is money, power, prestige, or a relationship, being upset about this fact will not change it.
Not only that, quite often people have things we do not because they were willing to do things we were not in order to get them.
Of course, luck, fate, and opportunity all play a part in our circumstances, but, that aside, effort and willingness can get us pretty far if we apply ourselves correctly.
Often, the reason others have things we do not is because they put time, effort, and attention into getting those things that we were unable or unwilling to.
Quite likely, our time, effort, and attention were spent on other things.
If this is the case, we are not actually missing out.
We made a choice and so did they.
Being upset about the results of these choices will not change what has been done and it will not help us move forward, living our lives according to our values.
We do not necessarily get to choose what inspires us.
If we are dedicated to doing creative work, we must rely to some degree or another on inspiration. We do not always know where it will come from. It may be intrinsic or it may be extrinsic.
Our job is to show up, to be willing, to pay attention, to look, listen, and to act when it appears.
We must honor the process, respect the inspiration, follow it, channel it, organize it, and allow it to come to form through us.
We may want to go in one direction with our work, but inspiration may take us somewhere totally different, somewhere new, somewhere foreign, and somewhere we never could have predicted with our previous knowledge or vision.
The beauty of the creative process is in the mysteriousness of it, in the discovery of it, and in the divinity of it.
For those of us who are fortunate enough to be witness to our own creative process, to participate in it, and to experience it, we cannot help but to also be in awe of it.
This is neither pride nor vanity. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we are merely willing participants on journey we do not fully understand.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
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Meditations on God 