Receive the fall.

Accept the loss.

Return to power.

It’s time to get soft. Bracing for impact only increases the risk of harm should the impact occur. If your body is relaxed and fluid, more energy can move through it with less harm.

Sometimes we lose, and it is normal to have a whole range of responses to losing, and all of those feelings deserve attention, but there is strength in accepting the loss without surrendering one’s position and values. When we lose, it’s a time to look at whether our strategies are actually working for us, or whether our stories about the world are accurate.

We might want to grow more rigid and attached to our stories for fear of betraying and abandoning what is dear to us. And that rigidity gets us more hurt. If you can let yourself go with the flow of energy, you are safer and more present to find opportunities to use that energy for your goals and values. If you focus on resisting the flow of energy with all your might, you’re going to take a beating and I’m not certain it’s worth it.

Earlier this year I reflected upon not falling before we’re thrown, and that remains an important bit of practice that is good to remember when you’re anxious about a future that hasn’t happened yet. The other piece of that is, once you are thrown, to surrender to the fall. To focus on going with the fall and lengthening your body to make as much contact with the ground as you can, to distribute the force of the blow so no one part of you is taking the hit. Fall safely so you can get back up and try again.

Note: Having done more than a year of these daily contemplations based on the planets, I’m feeling a desire to shift towards just weekday contemplations less bound to a particular planet or energy. I am going to play some and see where that leads.