Allowing vs. Forcing

Very soon, I’ll be leaving Los Angeles and returning to Kansas City, where I grew up.  We’ve been exploring to see where Spirit will take us for over a year now, so finally having this coalesce is a big deal.  Of course, it also brings with it all the logistics involved in a cross country move.  In our situation, we have a relatively short window to get everything packed and moved.  This brings up an excellent opportunity to practice!

There are two viewpoints we can take.  

1.  I must do it all myself - make it happen!  (aka forcing)
2.  Spirit will make the necessary connections - I don’t need to stress.  

The practice opportunity is in remaining aware of which paradigm I am functioning in and choosing into the paradigm in which I want to function.  I want to function in the second idea, yet (as so many of us are) am regularly pulled in the direction of the first.

Let me be clear off the top that relying on Spirit / The Universe / Whatever to make the necessary connections does NOT mean that there is nothing for us to do.  We have our part to play in the process.  My part is to be open to inspiration and follow it.  My part is to look for the place to live, schedule movers to estimate moving cost, etc.  High involvement, low attachment to the results.

Here is the perfect example.  We needed a place to live.  The first several days after learning that we would be moving were filled with internet searches and evaluating possible places to live.  For me, this process was very stressful.  Rather than simply looking, calling for info, evaluating options, etc. while remaining neutral, I was stuck in focusing on every place that wasn’t right and what might happen if I didn’t make something happen in time.  “We’d be homeless.  We’d have no where to move!  And look - everything I see is proof to me that we are screwed!  What have I done?!”  This is the mindset of having to “make it happen!”

After a few days of putting myself through hell the thought occurred to me to check in with my sister.  She had a house on the market.  It hadn’t sold yet.  “Maybe she wants to take it off the market for a while and would rent it to me…”  I checked, she liked the idea, and in relatively short order, our place to live was secured.  The intuitive nudge to call my sister came from allowing Spirit to make the path easy.

Had I stayed out of the “make it happen” mindset, the result would have been the same, but I wouldn’t have spent 3 or 4 days very stressed.  In fact, without being so stressed, I may well have felt the intuitive nudge to call her days earlier.  

The Intelligence that keeps planets in orbit can handle all of our “stuff.”.  To the degree that we allow It to do Its work and remain an active participant in the creative process, our experience will be smooth and graceful.  It requires trust, faith that the One Life that is all Life will not abandon us.  It may not be easy, but it's far better than freaking out for days on end!