“Though you’ll never know all the steps, you must learn to join the dance.”  –Brian Mitchell

As students, we often lament that school is hard, implying an unspoken expectation that life should not be hard.

This assumption is dangerous because beauty results from difficultly. The times in life when we are desperate invite us to recognize a grand plan, one that extends beyond our own life, and surrender to it.

Comfort on the other hand, requires no need to yield. It keeps us from learning the paradox that surrender is the only way we can ultimately be set free.

It is by this principle that wise people accept the pain of their hardships and recognize the well-disguised invitation they provide for spiritual growth. Ironically, once we accept that life is difficult, it becomes far less difficult.

I enjoy the metaphor relating the experience of living to that of joining a dance. Sometimes I don’t want to join the dance. Sometimes I full-blown dread it. Sometimes I feel embarrassed, tired or heavy-hearted.

Joining the dance of life is difficult in these times, but the alternative of not joining the dance can be lethal. Lethal because avoidance of our problems always stagnates the process of spiritual growth and maturity. As Carl Jung noted, “neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.”

Once we surrender our lives to be instruments for a grander plan, the fact that we don’t know the steps becomes obsolete, because we no longer strive to be the master architects of our own lives. Rather, we concede our will and desires to the wisdom of the conductor.

As I close out another trimester and anticipate a year ahead, may I remember the freedom that comes with surrender.

Learn more about NUHS’ Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine program here.