First, please read the following story from the book A Spiritual Soul Book (Chapter 95) by Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui z"l:
There is a story about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand time. He is enjoying the wind and the fresh air, until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. "My God, this is terrible," the wave says. "Look what is going to happen to me!"
Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave looking grim, and it says to him, "Why do you look so sad?" The first wave says, "You do not understand! We are all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Is it not terrible?"
The second wave says, "No, you do not understand. You are not a wave; you are part of the ocean."
This story expresses vividly what I've come to realize and sometimes tell others, though not always as directly as that second wave.
It's difficult not to feel like the first wave, as we are conditioned - both explicitly and implicitly - to believe that we are independent waves in the ocean. And the more "successful' we are, the harder it becomes to remain humble or to develop humility, since our ego is trained to accept and reinforce the illusion that we can control everything by our own power.
That's why it's often said by various sages that the greatest challenge in life is to only "succeed". I was lucky enough to have that illusion completely shattered when I hit rock bottom, partly because of my own arrogance. Now I am fully awar - and feel deeply - that I'm part of the ocean, as is everyone else.
After this fundamental shift, I began to flow more naturally as I relied on the power of the whole ocean. All I have to do is let go of the ego's desire for control and move with the current, with minimal effort of my own.
In retrospect, I had a foretaste of this state when I studied ChiRunning and Total Immersion Swimming and began to practice them. It took me years to realize that both are based on the same principle.
Now I'm applying this awareness more consciously to a self-imposed challenge. The results even surprise me. Things just happen with minimal intervention on my part - and are often beyond my wildest imagination.
Naturally, I feel like sharing the joy of living this way, or what I call "Total Immersion Living" (no trademark ;-) ), with as many people as possible. But at the same time, I know from experience that conceptual explanations don't help. So instead, I simply continue living this way, hoping that some sensitive and curious souls may take an interest in it.
An unexpected result of this shift is that my playfulness and humor now overflow - sometimes even unstoppably. They lead to more joy, which leads to more playfulness and more humor. Some of you, my dear readers, might have noticed that the number of winks ;-) in these blog entries keeps increasing. If this bothers you, you're welcome to try to stop my playfulness and humor. I myself have failed in that attempt—miserably. ;-)