Recently, I have become fascinated by the study of universal laws. The most popular and well known is the Law of Attraction, but there are many, many others. I have wondered how they might inform our continual journey and wrestling with change – as individuals and as a society.
As we look to the new year, and look back on the one that is nearly past, many of us are constructing images of what we want to be different in our lives. For many, 2010 has been a challenging year – pushing us to our limits and requiring us to do some serious reflection about what is valuable and treasured in our lives. And we hope that 2011 will be easier.
I believe in some ways 2011 will be easier. I suspect that it will be a year where at least economically we will see some improvement. However, we will continue to be pushed to change. Our personal rules, our expectations for ourselves and of others, and all that we have constructed because it has always been done that way will continue to be challenged. We are in the process of doing some very serious ‘house-cleaning’ in regard to our beliefs and ways of being.
I experience this most as I work with small businesses owners who continue to discover that they ways that worked before, aren’t any more. That the hard work that they are pouring into their business is just not delivering like it ‘should.’ And so we work on what they believe and why they believe it. And we find, time and again, that what they are doing and what they believe comes from somewhere else. It is not what they want to do or want to believe but they have been told that that is the way the game works. And so we begin to make change.
And little by little, I am seeing how the world is changing. I am getting to experience the shifts happening in people that will lead to big shifts in how our major systems will operate. ‘You have to work hard to earn a living’ is being replaced with ‘I can enjoy my work and live abundantly.’ I am meeting people who are unveiling their treasured gifts, even though they may seem odd to others, but they are discovering that even though they are unusual gifts, other people need them and want them. By this I mean, people who have types of healing, types of insight, types of teachings that help the rest of us find our way or get clear of what is holding us in tired patterns.
I’m feeling hopeful for 2011.
As you consider your next year, I share the following parable with you. We are all, in some way or another, making a change like the water does in going from a stream to the wind. And as we journey and reach our next landing we will discover that while it felt that we lost ourselves for a while we actually found our way to a deeper – and I believe, more fulfilling and enjoyable – self.
Blessings to everyone.
A Sufi parable, “Tale of the Sands”, as written in Flowing with Universal Laws by Margo Kirtikar, Ph.D.
A bubbling stream reached a dessert and found it difficult to cross. The water was disappearing into the fine sand faster and faster so the Stream spoke to the Desert: ‘My destiny is to cross this desert but I don’t know how to.’
The voice of the desert sands answered in the hidden tongue of nature and said: ‘If the Wind crosses the desert so can you.’
‘But whenever I try, I am absorbed into the sand and even if I dash myself at the desert, I can go only a little distance.’
The desert voice answered quietly, ‘ The wind does not dash itself against the desert sand.’
‘But the wind can fly and I cannot fly.’
‘You are thinking in the wrong way, trying to fly by yourself is absurd. You are water. Allow the wind to carry you over the sand.’
The stream said: ‘But how can that happen?’
‘Allow yourself to be absorbed in the wind.’
The stream protested that it did not want to lose its individuality in that way. If it did, it might not exist again.
This, said the sand was a form of logic, but it did not refer to reality at all. When the wind absorbs moisture, it carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again like rain and the rain again becomes a river again.
But how, asked the stream, could it know that this was true?
‘It is so and you must believe it, or you will simply be sucked down by the sands to form, after several million years a quagmire.’
‘But if this is so, will I be the same river that I am today?’
‘You cannot in any case remain the same stream that you are today. The choice is not open to you; it only seems to be open. The wind will carry your essence, the finer part of you. When you become a river again at the mountains beyond the sands, men may call you by a different name; but you yourself, essentially, will know that you are the same. Today you call yourself such and such a river only because you do not know which part of it is even now your essence.’
So the stream crossed the desert by raising itself into the arms of the welcoming wind, which gathered it slowly and carefully upward and then let it down with gentle firmness, atop the mountains of a far off land. ‘Now,’ said the stream, ‘I have learned my true identity.’
But the stream had a question, which bubbled up as it sped along: ‘Why could I not reason this out on my own? Why did the sands have to tell me? What would have happened if I had not listened to the sands?’
Suddenly a small voice spoke to the stream. It came from a grain of sand. ‘Only the sands know, for they have seen it happen; moreover, they extend from the river to the mountain. They form the link and they have their function to perform, as has everything in the universe. The way in which the stream of life is to carry itself on its journey is written in the Sands.’
Judith,
I love to read your blog. You offer highly insightful thoughts that help to keep me positive. I personally hate change (and we all know I’m the only one, right?). Can’t stand it. But if I always choose to stay where I always am and do what I always have done then I will get what I have always gotten. I am working hard on personal change in my own life so that I can trickle that down to my business. It’s hard. Hard to let old habits die, hard to keep pushing for new things, trying to be creative (especially being very left brained). Still, I know that although I may not see it yet, I am becoming the person that I need to be. God puts us in places to grow, not to stay where we are. After all, what would be the fun in that? Keep up the good work!
Dr. James Ashley, DC
Judith, as I reflect on 2010 and and make some plans for house cleaning and letting go in 2011, I am reminded of how difficult it is to accept that some projects did not work and also reminded to give myself credit for what did work.
Making the to do list for the coming months will be painful yet give relief. I must move froward and remember to ask for the advice of people who have more experience and expertise in the area of small business frustrations.
I hope to learn from others what changes will work in my favor and allow me to move on. I have hope for a year of learning and change
The question I must ask myself is, can I accept the changes that need to be made and do I have the patience to let them happen. An can I allow the plan to be implemented by someone other than me.
I have learned from you and others that the path to change is honestly, openly sharing.
The end results will be a better, less stressful way of living while keeping the outlook positive and creative.
I hope to see your blog on a more regular basis..you are an inspiring writer and person.
Bob
Bob, thanks so, so much. You are doing amazing things and inspiring even more people – like me! I will write more in the new year!
Thank you.
So glad I stopped and read. Very thought provoking reading during my reflection time. Just the past few days doors have opened I would not have believed, but that continues to happen when I let go and don’t ‘control’ how things will happen and when they will happen – it’s just happening. I thank you for your teachings and allowing me to be a part of the new journey – for without your guidance and teachings in 2010, I would be stuck. I’m excited about 2011 and my new ventures that will allow me to share what gifts I’ve been given with those that are ready to receive them. Continue to post and share – you are inspiration!
With excitement for 2011,
Cindy
As always I love reading or hearing your thoughts. I agree with your ideas on 2011, change is the only thing that most of us have in common. I beleive change is good, exciting and educational. The best part is what we learn about ourselves as we negotiate our “changes”. Thanks for your thoughts and of course I wish you an exciting News Year. N
I was passed your newsletter through a friend and synchronistically chose to pause to read it! :) I love the parable! It is such a wonderful reminder that when we let go of the “sacred hows” (as Mike Dooley of Tut.com speaks) and become willing to change FORM — “shapeshift” as Dr. Rev. Michael Beckwith speaks frequently about — then we have access to the INFINITE possibilities for magic and miracles that the Universe will provide — because we are not tying its “hands” behind it’s back in our efforts and fears to be safe by controlling the situation/s.
Thank you for sharing! I am deeply grateful!
Namaste.