There's no need to rush through life. You have your own pace.
Your innate strengths, charms, and talents will be needed at the right time and in the right place.
Even if you try to rush through life and things go well for a while, it's just because your environment happened to be right, and it will take some time for your true self to be revealed.
I recently felt this again while using a rice cooker.
When I was wondering which setting to use to cook rice, three settings caught my eye from the various options.
The Honkama setting is 45 minutes. The Quick setting is 30 minutes. The Sweet setting is 70 minutes.
All of the settings are delicious, but the end result and taste are different.
The Honkama course makes the most of the rice cooker's built-in kettle, producing rice that looks as if it's standing up.
The Quick Cook course, as its name suggests, is ideal for saving time.
The Sweet Cook course takes longer, but leaves each grain of rice shiny and dignified. The taste is also exceptional.
As you can see, even if you're using the same rice, the results will vary depending on which function you use.
It's the same with life.
The functionality of a rice cooker (the sublime flow of the universe) is perfect.
No matter what kind of rice (each individual soul) is brought to it, it will cook it thoroughly.
However, if you become obsessed with the result and rush to make a profit (using the quick cook setting), the rice will still turn out okay, but it will be slightly inferior in some ways.
This is because you are forcing the result without bringing out the rice's inherent goodness.
And so the backlash will be greater.
Isn't this true not just for rice, but for work, relationships, love, marriage, health, beauty, and everything else?
Everyone wants to see results quickly.
It's normal to want to achieve some kind of reward quickly.
But like a rice cooker, it takes time to truly bring out the innate qualities, charm, and talents within you.
In order to express the good qualities you were born with honestly, without reservation, holding back, or pretending, you need to take the time to remove your old preconceptions, attachments, and ties one by one.
Once you have learned some knowledge, wisdom, or skill, you can only unleash your true potential once you have understood, pondered, and refined it, making it a part of you and making it your own.
By expressing it out into the world through yourself, as an expression that only you, the one and only you created in the universe, can achieve, it can reach the right people at the right time, and deliver the best flavor possible.
Fluffy, sweet, and delicious rice is better than soggy rice.
Rather than cooking quickly and finding it tasty in the short term but hard and tasting less afterwards, it's better to surrender yourself to the sublime flow of the universe and let it cook within the universe's timeline, even if it takes a little longer, as this will allow your true self to emerge and fully utilize the charm and talent you were born with.
This is not about doing something recklessly or by force.
It's not about suppressing yourself and forcing yourself into a form that you're not.
When action is required, you will transcend your ego and begin to be naturally guided to appropriate action.
The natural flow of the universe brings out and cooks your innate flavor, maintaining its deliciousness.
Sometimes a shortcut is nice.
Enjoying temporary transience is part of the joy of life.
But the universe knows your innate good qualities, charm, and talents, and what you want better than you do, and has the perfect course ready for you.
You might only be looking for shortcuts, but your unique, perfect button is already right there, waiting for you to press it.
When you decide to be your authentic self, rather than comparing yourself to others, you will be guided to a radiant environment and self where you are loved, needed, and can thrive.
You will truly resonate with the innate abundance you are meant to possess.
The universe is always waiting for you to walk your authentic path (Tao) 🍀
