allanhunter.net Blog

There are times in one’s life when it seems almost impossible to arrange simple things like a meeting or a cup of tea with a colleague.  Existing meetings and arrangements get changed at the last minute; someone falls ill; someone’s father dies; the garage mends the car but fixes the wrong thing and you’re without a car; and so on.

I’m not sure what the critical mass of such situations might be, but it seems to me that when more than five such events line up at one time then we must pay attention. The universe is trying to tell us something.
Why should we pay attention?  Because the tendency we all have is to rush around more so that these things won’t defeat us, so that we win through.  Not only is that very hard on the stress levels, but it is also rather arrogant.  Why should we assume we have to triumph over all obstacles, anyway? Perhaps the obstacles are there for us to learn from.

Today, in the midst of such things, I found myself getting annoyed.  Then I paused and reframed it all.  And when I let go of the annoyance, of my sense that I should be in control, something rather pleasing happened.  I began to notice what was in front of my nose.  And what was before me was a series of synchronicities, little bits of information; connections that I’d have searched high and low for normally just plopped into my lap.  I could have been running around so fast that I failed to see them.  Fortunately I had let go of all that mind-mess, and so I could notice.

‘The Lord is throwing goodness at you, but with a little bit of luck, a man can duck.’ Mr Doolittle, in My Fair Lady.

Sometimes not ducking is a great idea.