“Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” — Zhang Zhou

“The ultimate” is a relative term with many different meanings. For some, it’s owning millions of dollars, several properties, every fancy sports car you can imagine, and never having to worry about whether or not you’ll be able to put food on the table. For others, it’s being able to adapt to your surroundings and excel in them. Others believe that the ultimate is the acceptance of everything, regardless of whether or not it’s good or bad. 

Zhang Zhou, however, believes that the last example is the ultimate. He believes that the ultimate is to flow with your surroundings and accept your current position, regardless of whether or not you like it. 

Keeping this in mind, try to apply it to your life. What is it about yourself that you always think about and can’t seem to come to terms with? Are you self conscious about your appearance? Do you wish you were smarter in a particular area? If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you still have something about yourself that you haven’t mastered.

The process of self mastery begins with acceptance and ends with freedom of mind. So, in order to overcome whatever sets you back, you first have to accept it. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to like whatever it is at first — if you could do that then you wouldn’t feel the need to change it. It simply means you have to take whatever problem you’re having and look at it from multiple different angles. See through it, question it, and then integrate it into your being as a newfound strength instead of a weakness. After that, sharpen the skill it gives you. 

In doing this, everything has the possibility of change. Procrastination becomes determination. Depression becomes a defensive shield. Hate becomes misunderstanding. Once your mindset goes from harmful to helpful, it becomes easier to remind yourself of what you’re good at and what you can contribute to the world.

What are your thoughts on this? How can you contribute to yourself with your strengths? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section. Feel free to leave a like. Also, I would sincerely appreciate it if you shared your favorite article with your friends on social media. It would greatly help support me and allow us to grow our little community. Other than that, stay tuned for future blog posts on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and try to be the reason someone smiles today 🙂