As a culture, we are all about doing: conquering the mountain, dominating the market, making money as quickly as possible, climbing to the top of the career ladder. These are action-oriented activities which require dynamic energy and is considered “masculine” energy. What we tend not to value in our culture are the more receptive, “feminine” activities: waiting, opening to intuition; listening for the right moment; allowing truth to penetrate and move us. The act of receptivity requires patience.
For many of us, we have become accustomed to being active all the time and to not be doing can be uncomfortable. This second lockdown has us sitting and waiting, asking us to be patient.
"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes". Henry J. Kaiser
So often we do not appreciation being in a space of receptivity, which is the place where we stop to reflect, to decide whether action is appropriate or not, to wait for the right timing. We think we are not doing when we are being receptive, that we need to be more dynamic. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dynamic energy to accomplish goals and dreams, that’s what drives us forward but being receptive also has many benefits.
It takes effort to not simply run off and do something for the sake of doing it, to live in the unknown for as long as it takes without becoming angry, bitter or depressed. The capacity to be receptive can help us to tap into our inner wisdom, intuition, resourcefulness and creativity. Not everything can be accomplished through willpower – sometimes what we need is a bit of wait power.
