"Let Go of the Rice"

 In a world that lives like a fist
mercy [trust] is no more than waking
with your hands open.

“So much more can happen with our hands open.  In fact, closing and stubbornly maintaining our grip is often what keeps us stuck, though we want to blame everything and everyone else, especially what we’re holding on to.
There is an ancient story from China that makes all this very clear.  It stems from the way traps were set for monkeys.  A coconut was hollowed out through an opening that was cut to the size of a monkey’s open hand.  Rice was then placed in the carved-out fruit which was left in the path of the monkeys.  Sooner or later, a hungry monkey  would smell the rice and reach its hand in.  But once fisting the rice, its hand could no longer fit back out through the opening.  The monkeys that were caught were those who would not let go of the rice.
As long as the monkey maintained its grip on the rice, it was a prisoner of its own making.  The trap worked because the monkey’s hunger was the master of its reach.  The lesson for us is profound.  We need to always ask ourselves, What is our rice and what is keeping us from opening our grip and letting it go?….”

 from The Book of Awakening ~by Mark Nepo

Ask yourself, what is your rice? Is it anger, fear or maybe even worry? Maybe its a person who just gets under your skin. When we hold on tight to that which frustrates us we are shut out from the light. But when we choose to let go, and loosen our grip, we allow light in and in turn we are given the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. Most often, what we hold onto with the tightest grip will not matter a year from now, and the things that will not matter in the long run, should not drive us crazy  now.

Most things, given enough time, will self correct. Allow that to happen and you will have more time and energy to focus on what is good in your life.

May you always be willing to loosen your grip and "Let Go of the Rice".