Surrounded By Forces Beyond Your Control? Um, Yeah.

love from grace in the skies
love from grace in the skies

Even though I’m venturing away from home, I love being connected by email and internet.

If you wanted to see the really fantastic early-bird way to sign up for making monthly payments for Year of Inquiry then you have until Friday to for this special.

Don’t hesitate to ask me questions–I’ll shoot you a quick reply from the road. Or I guess from the sky, since that’s where I am right now.

What an amazing bunch of folks enrolling in YOI. I can’t wait to be with you in inquiry this year.

Here’s the webpage with all Year of Inquiry (YOI) information. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the options for the early-bird payment plans. Whatever you’re choosing, fill your amount in manually. I’ll get back to you all soon with the entire scoop and details for YOI….How the calls work, how to dial-in, what to expect.

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Yesterday was pretty funny.

The plans are to be packed and ready to leave at 6 am (earlier this very morning).

It was mid-afternoon.

I go into the bathroom and notice water in the tub.

No one’s been in there for a few hours. Why is there water in the tub?

I clean out the drain catcher thingie and go to answer the phone and get distracted.

The laundry is running, the washing machine going strong into its third load since early in the morning.

Back in the bathroom at some point, maybe 30 minutes later, my husband notices water in the tub, only it’s kind of blue colored, and 3 inches.

Like the color of a load of jeans being washed in the washing machine by my daughter.

Yes. The washing machine, bathroom sink and tub are all backed up with some kind of  hair ball most likely….but in any case, a plugged drain.

After three calls to local plumbers (no one can come the same day) we call Roto Rooter which rings in my ear from childhood. They come the same day, right?

Yes. For $400.

Which we pay. The man is very nice. By 5:00 pm he’s gone, and the bathroom is a super mess.

I go to the car wash (someone is using my car while we’re gone) with my daughter and vacuum out my vehicle. Then daughter needs feminine supplies at the store. Then son needs an ace bandage for his sore ankle. Then we need extra copy of key into house since guests are staying here. Then emails need to be answered.

Then the woman who’s going to come clean the cottage between guests calls and says “I don’t know how to get in.”

Right. Getting said key to her.

Later, 1:00 am, it’s lights out until the alarm goes off at 5:00 am.

When times are fast, moving, flowing quickly, I sometimes notice tiny flare-ups within, like little miniature blow torches saying “no, don’t ask me that one more time” or “clean up your dish, I just got the counter cleared off” or “no I do not know the seat assignments for the return trip” or “maybe not taking all three (of those 2-inch thick hard cover books that make a trilogy you must read while we’re away)”.

It’s a funny kind of snappy attention, not light and fluffy attention.

I’ve still got it now.

The guy sitting next to me on this flight has elbows jutting into MY SIDE OF THE SEAT!

Can’t you lean towards the aisle just a little? Or how about not hogging the entire arm rest?!

Writing this makes me laugh.

This kind of moment actually comes from a feeling of being interrupted, imposed on.

But that feeling I notice usually comes out of a slight (or big) feeling of nervousness, heightened attention, beliefs like the following (that actually lurk below the surface of all the busy-ness of getting ready for something):

  • something could go wrong
  • we could miss the airplane, we could miss something important, we could miss a good time ahead….we could miss

Both involve either the future, or the past.

Not the present.

The mind will worry…..OMG if I only attend to the present, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.

This would be terrible. I must be alert, I must be attentive, success is up to me!!

Something could go wrong, and I am the one to prevent that from happening.

This can be bizarrely, obsessively stressful.

Let’s inquire!

Is it true?

Hmmm.

I suppose something could go “wrong” but only if you believe that it’s “wrong” to miss a plane, be late, lose an important item, have no money, get too tired, have an accident, die, get sick, become confused, lose your way, be in a bad mood, feel fear, etc.

Can I prevent anything from happening that’s going to happen?

No.

Whatever is going to happen, is going to happen.

It basically does not directly come from me, because of me, at me, to me.

There are far greater forces and interconnections and interplays and mysterious dances happening here than I could ever know.

THIS part I know….that I don’t really know.

So, no.

It is not absolutely 100% true that something terrible could happen, or that I could prevent it.

Like, waaaaaay not absolutely true.

Who would I be without the belief that something troubling could happen?

Suddenly laughing about All This.

Entertained. Watching the little body and little mind do its little part, but aware of a huge wild adventure going on.
And aware, in this moment as I truly enter who I would be without a stressful thought right now, neighbor leans to the other side, takes arm off armrest jutting into my side of the seat space, and everything relaxes all around me in every direction.
“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.” ~ Byron Katie
 
Do I like this moment?
What can I find to like about it?
What can you find to like about your moment, where you are right now?
Cream-colored pull-down airplane tray table, sun beaming through window, two large men on either side of me about the same size, with big beautiful hands (one set dark chocolate brown, one set light brown, beautiful colors) and wide thumbs, two men looking at tablets and playing games, a low friendly hum of engine motor, people asking if I want something to drink, flying through the air in a little metal tube that will actually beam a message out from this machine called a computer, to you.
This message, then, truly comes from far in the sky.
And I have nothing to do with it except I appear to be a part of the process, the flow, the energy, the unfolding.
What a gift.
“The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it.” ~ Michael Singer in The Untethered Soul.
Much love,
Grace