A few years ago I’d been working on something for a while. I was excited about it, looking forward to its fruition. Savored the idea of its success. Part of me worried that it wouldn’t come together, that no one would be interested in this new work, that it just wouldn’t happen. I’d put that out of my mind and focus on the work of planning, and that felt good. I would get excited about it, again. I’d go back to trusting that it would all come together beautifully, in exactly the way I want it to…
Or rather, in the way the universe wants it to, because I’m in alignment with the universe, and the universe wants it to unfold as I do.
The universe seemed to not feel as I did about the project. The alignment I felt was, well, lacking. There’s a little something called DIVINE TIMING, which from my perspective back then sucked. Divine timing is perfect timing. Or so I’ve been told. It’s also not my idea of perfect.
Abruptly, the project was postponed. Then it kind of unraveled. Moments before I pulled the plug on the whole exciting endeavor, I get an email from my friend Gabriella, an energy healer in New York, about the project, asking if perhaps it had been postponed. She had a feeling.
Gabriella wasn’t upset. She was completely sanguine about the loss of work, revenue, and the chance to travel for work. She had this thing she did about “trusting that life lines up perfectly always… whether I understand it or not…” that relaxed her grip on how things SHOULD BE.
Have you ever had things not work out or come together when you wanted them to?
Have you ever been traveling and had a delay that botched all your plans? Are you able to look back and see if things happened differently (worked out better)because of that delay? Sometimes I get what I want in life, and other times I don’t. Sometimes I’m lucky I haven’t gotten what I thought I wanted. In high school, I wanted to be popular. Six months later I didn’t care. Something else captured my attention. We don’t always know what we really want. Or even what we really need.
The point is at any given moment I often want things I don’t want the next year.
Oftentimes, I worry, worry, worry about things that later come together, or fall apart in a way that takes care of whatever I was worried about. I realize I’ve wasted all that time fretting! Perhaps divine timing is a bit like that. Projects fall apart at the worst time possible only to free you up to do something else. Or you get a speeding ticket and are saved from a car accident. The other point is none of us really know how protected and cared for we are by something I’ll name the Divine.
If I can just trust that it all lines of beautifully, exactly as it’s meant to, then perhaps I can let go of my need to control the timing of an outcome. It’s the same with desire. If I just desire a life in the flow, one that brings contentment and ease, then the things I need appear when the time is right.
Here’s how Enoch Tan explains Divine Timing:
If you want to experience more harmony, happiness and effortless manifestation of your desires in life, you have to let go of all resistance towards whatever comes your way. The reason why we fight against what comes is that we think that we are being kept from having our way. But the truth is that whatever happens is exactly what is meant to be, and it is all part of the process of the manifestation of our desires. Everything is happening in divine timing, and we can flow if we do not limit ourselves.
If something doesn’t happen at the expected time in an expected way, it means it’s going to happen at a better time in a better way.
Don’t resist what is happening, instead focus on doing something else. Resistance causes pain. Acceptance gives you room to breathe.
My idea of what’s perfect timing is very demanding. I want it when I want it… usually RIGHT NOW. Because I know best. But that’s not really true, is it? I hardly know best about even the simplest things, like what I want and what I’ll want six months from now. Occasionally I’m grateful when certain projects or relationships fall apart because they weren’t right. lucked into something better, something or someone more suited to me and my needs.
If you feel things aren’t working out for you these days, here are few tips that helped me:
1. Practice believing you are taken care of, even if you don’t feel like you are right now in this moment.
2. Keep meditating, working towards your goals, and if something falls apart, rework it, discover another angle, look for what’s missing, or what needs repair. Check in with yourself, are you ready to receive, or did you need to learn something that the delay is here to teach you? (Remember Step 1 – you are taken care of so it must be happening for a good (divine) reason.
3. Keep asking for what you want/need. It might show up in a completely different package than expected but I bet you’ll get what you want.
4. Just go with the flow, stop swimming upstream. If something feels like a struggle, i.e., it’s not happening in the way you want, in the timely manner you expect, maybe it’s because you’re out of the flow. You’re struggling. Stop it and practice swimming downstream, go with the current. Remember Gabriella’s words: “trust that life lines up perfectly ALWAYS.”
These help me when I’m out of the flow and worried and anxious about things falling apart or events being postponed. Hope they do the same for you!
If you have any great tips, please share them with me!
