In its exact right place.
Written version.
How does it change the experience, to trust that everything in this moment is in its exact right place?
I heard this during my meditation once and you know, it changed - it changes - everything.
To know that everything happening within, for and around you right now is in its exact right place, is happening just as it’s meant to…
Takes a load off, doesn’t it?
OK, you might be sitting there thinking; what, so discomfort, pain, anguish, hurt, sadness…that’s all in its right place?! No thank you!!
And I hear you, those thoughts are totally understandable!
But I invite you to open yourself up to the other side of the coin, where it becomes not personal, and totally personal, all at once!
It’s the opportunity to detach yourself from your experience, to become an observer, check out what’s going on for you and how you’re sitting with everything, and then to re-insert yourself into the experience in a way that serves you.
Any questioning around ‘why me, why now?’, or trying to fight or resist or change, gets taken off the table because you trust that whatever you’re experiencing right now, just is.
Imagine being stuck in a traffic jam; all the horns are honking and you’re ready to get up and in there and honk away yourself. And then you remember, everything in this moment is in its exact right place.
You take your hand away from the horn, take a deep breath, close your eyes for a second and know that whether you honk your horn or not, that traffic jam isn’t moving any faster.
Your experience totally changes; you’re able to see the leaves blowing on the trees, hear the birds chirping, notice the funny faces your fellow drivers are pulling, and watch the road workers as they go about their day.
In all of that, in trusting in some higher order ~ or whatever ~ you stop worrying about how fast you’re travelling, you stop comparing yourself to everyone else on their journeys, and you get to see - and appreciate - your life for what it is right now. Meaning, you get to actually live, in real time. In amongst all the honking horns and angry faces, you get to see the beauty…if you allow yourself to.
And if that’s not enough, it brings forth the question; is there anything to be learned or understood here? Even if that understanding is simply a deepening of presence.
Practice.
So for a couple of minutes, lean into that trust. Close your eyes, deepen and slow your breath. Locate your equanimity; let be what is… and then begin to notice.
Notice that at the exact moment you’re doing this meditation, your shoulders are up by your ears, your jaw clenched and your brow furrowed. Allow yourself to put a little sticky note on that, and then deeply relax.
Notice the sounds going on around you; the birds singing, the cars driving by, the washing machine sloshing around! This is your opportunity to let all that be, to strengthen that equanimity and not wish for anything to be different.
Notice how your chronic illness is showing up today. Trust that it’s just doing its thing, in whatever season it’s in…and whatever is going on with it right now, you get to ask; is there anything to be learned or understood here?
Sit with this for as long as you like.
Good being with you today, my friend.