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Falling Forward In Divine Timing

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Stacey MK

How many times have you Divinely been given a dream, a desire, or been shown a specific task to accomplish, but you didn’t even know where to begin? Or, you took a step towards a desired goal and achieving your vision and encountered countless obstacles, delays and detours that left you questioning what you were thinking?

As a sixth sensory being, we know that our best experiences and relationships and the road to achieving our dreams can be had by following our intuition and the promptings of our heart, regardless of whether we completely agree with it or are even consciously aware of where we are headed at that moment.

We have faith in our Higher Self, our Guides and our Angels who are guiding us along and illuminating our path on our journey. We trust in the Divine timing for the highest good of all involved, and we genuinely believe that no matter what, the Universe has our back.

It may not be until that one moment when the initial inspiration or task at hand has actually morphed into several major projects – whether it’s been several days, weeks, months or years – and you are taking those necessary steps that you realize you have completed an important portion of your ultimate vision. Divine inspiration is not always a step-by-step method to get you through a specific project but rather the complete unfolding process to achieving your grandest vision and dream.

Sometimes when we take a few simplistic steps to complete a singular project, and it becomes total frustration and fragments into many other segments over an extended period of time, that’s when you can see why the obstacles and the additional projects were necessary to encounter in order to complete the whole of the vision and to fulfill your purpose within its design.

Many times people think when something is Divinely inspired there will be no obstacles or delays, when in fact the opposite can be true. It’s called Falling Forward in Divine Timing. There are times during the process when you need to learn and grow or the other people you are meant to connect and collaborate with need to learn and grow and ultimately be ready and in position for the undertaking of their part in the vision as a whole.

When you feel the burning desire and passion in your heart to move forward regardless of what you are seeing around you, keep falling forward because the inspired idea is most likely a grand vision and one you’ll feel so blessed and honored to be a part of with Divine timing.

I Am Enough And I Am Whole

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Fotolia_56696110_Subscription_Monthly_MWhen I think of the fall, I think of harvest – reaping the yield of produce that was tended to all summer in crops and gardens. It’s a time of ripened abundance when we literally enjoy the fruits of our labor – a time when we experience growth, productivity, and completion. Bushel baskets overflow as vibrant colors begin to fade and turn. Days grow shorter, and sunlight wanes minute-by-minute. Sadly, the landscape transitions to brown and barren in its pallid journey toward colder temperatures. The sense of closure begins to overwhelm many. Our productive and vibrant season appears to die and come to an end. Sometimes it feels more like loss when the lifeless signs of a winter pause replace the active flurry to gather-in.

In a contemplative space of harvest, I consider my personal growing seasons – times of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and rest. Why is it that when I’m not producing, I feel incomplete? Why is it that more satisfaction comes from the plethora of active growth and vibrant energy? Why do I discount the time of rest and judge myself so harshly?

Winter is the slowest growing season in an apple orchard, but it’s also one of the most important. Cold winters are very important for apple trees. The trees need rest to produce flowers and fruit each year. It takes about 900 to 1,000 hours below 45 degrees to prepare the trees for the next season. While the trees are resting, they are pruned. Extra wood is cut out so plenty of light can reach the leaves and fruit. This helps keep the tree healthy and prepare it for an abundant harvest of nutritious, tasty apples with good color.

Maybe I am like an apple tree, complete and whole in all of my forms and all of my creative seasons. There is purpose and intention to the cycles of my life. Sometimes I’m quiet and germinating. At other times, I’m in full production. When I embrace the intention of rest and go within, I can grow into my highest potential. Actually, I can become so much more than I can even imagine.

In the spring, when temperatures begin to warm, buds appear on the branches of an apple tree and leaves begin to emerge. Beautiful, fragrant apple blossoms bloom into their full grandeur, and the tree is a spectacular sight. The sweet spring version of an apple tree is whole and complete in and of itself. Festivals bring people together to celebrate the trees in full bloom. Florists use apple blossoms in creative designs and the branches have inspired many artists. Apple blossoms are a Chinese symbol for beauty and immortality. The apple blossom encourages action, motion, courage, and passion. If I were an apple blossom, I would arguably be complete and whole and enough.

The beautiful, fragrant blossoms are only one function and stage of the apple tree. When pollinated by insects, the next miracle of life begins and an apple grows in place of the fading blossom.  As the blossoms die and fall away, the tree is filled with apples and the growing season starts over. Plush green leaves warm the landscape as apples grow and turn a variety of hues. Soon the leaves turn into magnificent fall colors and the apples ripen. Once again, it’s time for harvest. Apples can be used to eat, cook with, make beverages, and so much more. The apple, as a fruit, is complete and whole and the fruit produces seeds, which are complete and whole.

With all of this abundant life, we mustn’t dismiss the simple elegance and genius of Nature’s plan. Winter is necessary. Rest is essential. Pause is imperative. And, the bare winter tree is complete and whole in itself.

William Arthur Ward said, “Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.” It is time we see ourselves with this same faith and magnificent potential.  This year, as I fall forward into the quiet space of rest, renewal, and regeneration, I will honor this season with gratitude and reverence. When I’m not “producing,” I will experience myself in all of my wholeness. I will cherish the time of rest and remember my precious birthright to blossom, grow, and flourish. I will not only harvest and celebrate the fruits of my labor, but also mindfully gather the seeds of potentiality and hold sacred my ability to plant them.

Life is perfect. The cycles and seasons are purposeful. As an expression of this Divine Creation, I will allow my true essence to emerge in all of its glorious and splendid forms. I am enough and I am whole.

Visit The Airport Without A Ticket

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Are you worried you could be a workaholic? A junkie for the rush of what accomplishment feels like? Just trying to get that one next raise or promotion to put you ahead? Or maybe just holding on for dear life at keeping the job you have when so many people are still looking for one? Do you feel like it is sucking the life out of your very being? Maybe you want to change, know you should change, but don’t really know where to begin. It can be difficult once you’ve worked your way into a certain role at a company. It can feel like you can’t change the rules now because certain people expect certain things from you and you want to meet all their expectations. You want and need to retain your status as a very hard worker for your security, and maybe even your self esteem.

Here’s the truth though: it’s a vicious never-ending cycle. The best performers are given the majority of the work.  They accomplish that work because they are driven and competent. So what happens? They are given even more work. You will never catch up. That taunting voice that repeats over and over again “If you just come in and work on the weekend again or just work nights for this week again you will finally catch up” is lying to you.

 There is no such thing as getting caught up for good. The items you cross off your list will create space for new items to fill in. The only way to claim the time you need to be healthy and whole is to take action and set your own boundaries. Only you can set the boundaries for what you will and won’t tolerate in your life and how much time you will devote to work. Your work has to be integrated with more important things like family, friends, self, and room for your soul to breathe. If you want to feel inspired, alive, and energized, you have to give yourself space to feel something, anything at all. You can’t feel anything resonate with you if you are numb, running from place to place, and focused on only one thing as though you are playing the arcade version of the Whack-a-Mole game.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a great work ethic. I am of a generation and area of the country where a very high value is placed on work ethic. You do have to work hard to succeed in life, there are no handouts, and teamwork is a form of loyalty lived out loud. But you need to ask yourself “What am I working for? What is the purpose of this?” Are you working for a paycheck and superficial empty recognition that quickly fades for you? Or does your work actually bring you true inner joy? And is this work the legacy you want to leave behind as your footprint?

If you’re questioning whether or not you are placing too much emphasis on work and not enough on your true life joys such as your relationships, I ask you to do one simple exercise. It may bring home a new perspective.

I am a huge believer that all the lessons we need to become the person we are destined to be are around us every day, dancing around us, practically shouting at us, ”Stop and notice me!” “You’re making this harder than it has to be!” as we hustle around and bust our butts doing “life.” All we have to do is slow down, open up, and the universe will step in to reveal what it is we need to grow, right now, right here, if we are willing to receive it.

Here is your assignment. Drive to your local airport.  Park in the ramp.  Leave your phone in the car. Enter the airport. Grab a cup of coffee, smoothie or soda … whatever. Make your way to the waiting area for unticketed passengers. The area where families wait for loved ones, where children and wives greet soldiers, where grandparents greet grand babies, where old college friends reunite. The area of Welcome Home signs and flowers, hugs and tears, and a few squeals of sheer joy. Have a seat and simply people watch for however much time you have to give this. Take your time and let the scenes speak to you. Watch the anticipation before the reunion. Watch those waiting. Watch the emotions and hugs pour out of all these strangers around you. Watch them walk off arm-in-arm to go enjoy each other. Feel the atmosphere of real emotion, joy, and a drop in their stress and anxiety. This is not just a lesson for your brain to process, but for your heart and soul to feel the weight of. Don’t just imagine this scene; give this experience to yourself; actually do it, feel it. For an hour’s worth of your time, let the world speak to you.

For me, when I watch these reunions, it quickly snaps me to the attention of what is really important and where I want to spend time and energy in my life. It reminds me of what brings me joy and what I wish my footprint to be. Yes, we all need income to provide for our families, and jobs are very important, but at what cost? Make sure you’re not paying more than it’s worth to you in the end because we can’t go back. Ask yourself if there is a different way to put the important stuff at the priority level that really feels right for you. What can you do differently today to set new boundaries? Starting today, take a small step to make the footprint of your life what you want it to be.

I hope you take this small leap and give yourself the gift of this experience. I hope it has an impact on you and brings you some unexpected perspective.

Thriving Through Nature’s Timing

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“There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.” –Chogyam Trungpa

The thought of fall was in the air today. A strong breeze was blowing leaves and sticks, and I was so thankful for low humidity and much cooler temperatures. I love mornings like this. It allows me to be one with nature while doing yoga and meditation. Here in the Roanoke Valley where I live, it has been a hotter than normal summer season. I have been saying for a while now, “I am so looking forward to fall.” Fall has always been my favorite season. I love the crunch of the leaves, the brilliant colors, the way leaves twirl through the air and the smell of change. My body’s rhythm is very connected to this season. It is when I feel the best inside and out, and I prepare for fall as though I am preparing for guests. As women, I truly believe we nurture our favorite season and prepare for its arrival in many ways. What I want to cook and eat changes, the dishes I use changes, and the beds are dressed differently as well. I put up a different ornamentation on my door and change the look inside my home to reflect my love for fall. Outside, I put my gardens to sleep for the winter and trim and save seeds for the next season.

We all have these same seasonal rhythms in our body. We follow right along with nature, and we become one with each season. Our body changes with the seasons, with the weather, with the atmospheric conditions. Many people can tell in their bones, especially women, when a change in weather is coming. Human bodies are in sync with the forces, shifts, cold and heat, light and dark, humidity and all the other variations that the seasons bring. They respond and shift their functioning according to these natural dynamics. All living organisms change with the different rhythms and seasons. Seasonal changes are important to my body due to chronic illness and pain.

Regardless of location or traditional cultures, there is an awareness that we are continuously affected by the changing of seasons. Knowing this, as we care for our health and our bodies, we are able to adapt compassionately to the natural rhythms of the earth. This is especially true for me in the winter season. The coldest season of all can cause tremendous pain and health issues. I plan for the rhythm of this season and treat myself with loving kindness, lots of blankets, warm teas and great books.  Learning to live within the seasonal fluctuations is believed to bring health, harmony and strength to the body. It also provides a natural timetable and rhythm for a good service check and health care program for maintenance and upkeep to prevent accumulated stress, anxiety and depression from our body’s responses.

Sometimes we fail to adapt our habits to be more compatible with the rhythms of seasonal changes. By being aware of some of these changes throughout the year we can support shifting body dynamics so as to assist the changes. We can also take advantage of these natural shifting points to expand those dynamics that are increasing/flowing and rest those that are decreasing/ebbing. Many of us set up associations of food, drink, activities, energies, dress and emotions that are related to and affected by the seasonal shifts.

The seasonal rhythms are meant to be celebrated, nurtured and loved as all of nature is intended to be. When our patterns are ebbing and flowing according to their natural rhythms, our body is perfectly synchronized and performs at its peak. We have effortless energy and vitality when we live in accordance with nature and seasonal rhythms. We learn lessons from the rhythms of each season; it is a warm and compelling adventure that enables us to see ourselves with fresh tenderness. In an engaging manner, it offers hope and encouragement in the face of the hectic, stress-filled demands of life.

I hope this has inspired each of us to become “Mindful” of the rhythms of each season and embrace the newness in our hearts as something to cherish and look forward to. Fall will be here soon, what simplistic rhythms fill your heart with joy and love?

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