Sometimes everything falls into place with a beautiful simplicity that is quite profound. Those are the moments when everything makes sense, when you feel an effortless ease unfolding in your life. Even breathing feels free and natural. Have you had those moments?
And then there are days when everything seems to be an obstacle, an issue to unravel. It’s as if you were an athlete running around a track filled with hurdles. Every ten meters, there is some problem to solve, some roadblock in your way.
But what if those roadblocks aren’t always blocks? What if they are actually signals designed to help? What if they are pointing you to a different approach, a direction you hadn’t thought about?
On Tuesday, I cleared my schedule and planned to go swim in the ocean. It was early morning. Children would be back in school, I thought, and adults would most likely be at work. It should be quiet at the beach.
It wasn’t. The beach nearest my home was full. More importantly, there was no place to park my car. This beach has over 100 parking spots and all of them were full.
Let me explain. It has been years since I’ve had to look for parking spots. They always appear right when I need them. But not that Tuesday. For 25 minutes, I searched back and forth, and the longer it took, the more I began to fret. ‘Ocean swimming is a GOOD thing,’ I said to myself. ‘Why aren’t parking spots here?’
Frustration and disappointment were starting to build. As I stopped at the traffic light at the entrance to the parking lot, I thought, ‘Maybe I should just give up and go home.’
Then the light turned green and I found my hands turning the steering wheel to the right, instead of going straight ahead. ‘Strange,’ I thought. ‘Why did I do that?’ Turning right meant I would be heading into Waikiki instead of back to my home. There were too many cars behind me now to turn around.
Even more strangely, the closer I got to Waikiki, the better my mood felt. Traffic moved along easily. All the traffic lights began to turn green, one after another, in a steady flow.
Then I thought of a beach not far from Diamond Head that I liked and decided to go there. The minute I made that choice, traffic in front of me cleared. I drove from one end of Waikiki to the opposite end in 4 minutes! (If you have ever driven down Kalakaua Avenue, you know how unusual that is. )
I arrived at the beach, and right in front was a free parking space under a big shady tree. I got the message. THIS was the beach for me today. What I thought was a roadblock had actually been an arrow pointing me somewhere else.
So if you make plans….even ones that you think are good….remember to keep yourself open to something better. Let your intellect organize and decide, but also make room for inspiration and guidance.
Notice your hands. They often telegraph your inner wisdom. It was my hands that turned the steering wheel to the right and got me pointed in the right direction. Your hands and feet can point you in the right direction, too.
Notice your emotions and judgments. If you find yourself getting impatient or frustrated, try to relax and breathe. What is really being said here? Keep an open mind about other possibilities. Instead of clamping down and judging something as a roadblock, breathe. Try to relax. Evaluate what else is being said.
You might find signals in the environment that guide you. For me, a series of traffic lights turning green (one after another) are a sign that what I am thinking or feeling is GOOD for me, supports my flow. A stream of red lights often means the opposite, to slow down and re-think. When a cloudy day suddenly turns sunny, what am I thinking in that very moment? It happens a lot when I am working with clients. Sun suddenly filling the room usually comes after an important insight has been reached. The timing is precise. Notice these things.
And if you have animals at home, they can often give you signals that help. Frequently, if I am thinking about something important, the neighbor’s dog will bark once as if to add an exclamation mark: YES! I AGREE! The bark comes at exactly the right time to reinforce what is being said or thought.
Most of all, keep your sense of humor alive and well. Remember what it is like to giggle playfully, like a child. Treat yourself lightly and with kindness. That way, you’ll be more likely to find that new beach on your horizon when your parking spots vanish.