Are you the guy wire or the telephone line?

[richard]

As i was at my yoga practice this evening, i was looking outside and was noticing the "guy wire" that was holding the telephone pole in place.  It was very taut - it did not move in the wind. It was strong and immovable.  But it was not flexible - it could not release it's work for a moment to learn a new way of being.  It is rigid and locked into the one job it was doing right then.  And it would continue until enough ice falls and the wind blows it all down along with it's friends between the other poles.

The Telephone line had a sag in it which allows it to flow with the breeze.  But it's function keeps going.  the phone calls still get through even in the wind.  by being flexible, it can withstand the wind.  But, it can not be counted on to provide strength.  If the guy wires broke, the telephone wire would get stretched and break and the phone calls would not be able to get through. 

So, some tasks require strength and some flexibility.  For us, it takes both to grow - strength to stand up to the tempests that would like to blow us from one thought to another, but we need flexibility to grow.  To learn new things, we have to be flexible in our knowledge and let it bend with the breeze.  The strength will keep us from going beyond where we should, but the flexibility will let us live.

richard