Allowing the Waves to Come

I saw that instead of needing to get rid of my panic [attacks], I had to become familiar with the rigid sense of self that kept trying to hold things in place. I could let the panic lead a life of its own. It would dissolve forever or maybe rise again, and yet again, but either way I could live with it; and I saw that even if I got rid of my panic, other waves would arise and there would always be difficult circumstances, sorrow, sickness, anxiety, and strong emotions. But without a fixed mind, these daily life problems could return to the larger, more spacious ocean-mind. Trying to stop the waves would be like trying to stop the mind, or grasp air in our hands. It’s not possible.

Yongey Mingyur
from In Love with the World; What a Monk Can Teach You About Living from Nearly Dying