The art of being spontaneous and letting go of control

The possibility for unscripted, spontaneous beauty exists in every moment.

Out of control beauty is everywhere! When you are present in the moment, life's great improvisation flows in a magnificent way.

Your most fun memories might be from spontaneous, magical moments, events that occurred without a big plan. Things just happened, unexpected people showed up, and a beautiful time was had by all. The energy was perfect, without trying to make it that way.

How often are the uber-controlled and planned-to-the-minute-detail events sometimes painful to get through?

What if something goes wrong? Oh no! If one tiny little thing doesn’t go according to plan, what will we do? It’ll ruin everything. It must go perfectly, so I will control it to make sure. So-and-so will be so disappointed if it isn’t just so!

Usually it’s one person who has taken it upon her or himself to oversee the perfection to the detail. It becomes less about being in the present moment and enjoying, and more about making sure a standard of some kind is lived up to.

This can really ruin the fun and joy of being, take the wind out of human creation in the moment.

Improvisation has taken a back seat to the need for static perfection.

This is called having a ‘perfect picture’ and is sure to ruin your day, unless you are flexible and can let go of the old idea at a moment’s notice in order to embrace another reality.

A perfect picture insists that there is only one way to do things, and is really not much fun at all.

Yes, if you’re making a movie, or running a trapeze act, it’s important to plan and rehearse, in order to make sure everything is working. Because you know there are going to be surprises and you want to be able to improvise on the spot to deal with them.

It’s no fun for the audience if your movie looks totally controlled – where’s the spirit in that? There is an art to having things work and become real, while also having fluidity and flexibility.

This art is called Grounding.

If you can have permission for spirit with grounding, and let go of the need to control every last living thing in sight, you might allow yourself to experience and learn a new thing or two.

And if you’re not the one trying to control everything, and just want to have fun with the people who show up, you’ll already have permission to do so.

• ©Kris Cahill
  'Lightning’ image found at Unsplash