The Possibilities In Upheaval

What to do when life is not the same anymore.

Stepping out onto the deck after a night of very heavy rain, something didn’t look right. It took a few seconds to figure out what was wrong.

The bridge across our usually quiet little stream had disappeared!

Looking downstream, we saw it nestled on the bank where the water had deposited it.

It was still a bridge, but it no longer served the purpose for which it was intended.

We have all experienced this kind of upheaval.

A rising tide of events lifts us from our foundation, leaving us somewhere else, not knowing our purpose or what to do next.

Temporarily giving the bridge human abilities, it now had a choice, just as we do when upheaval happens.

It could redefine itself as a different type of bridge, perhaps serving as a bridge across grass instead of water.

It could get help moving back into being a bridge across a stream, with a great story about its relocation adventure.

Times of upheaval don’t have to be hard times.

They can just as easily be a time of discovery, an opportunity to redefine our lives and how we want to live.

As the bridge sat quietly on the bank, perhaps it imagined how it would feel to remain there, change its look and become something new, or be a bridge in a different location.

Perhaps it started with a list of what it didn’t want to be and then made a list of what it did want life to be like now that it was free.

Since all its moorings were gone, the bridge could choose what to rebuild or leave behind.

We don’t judge the bridge based on the circumstances that placed it there, and it doesn't waste time judging itself.

Instead, we can imagine the bridge celebrating the chance to stop carrying expectations accumulated through the years. Instead, it was free to be a different version of itself.

When we find ourselves like the bridge, we can do this same process, beginning with the most important step—being willing.

Part of the willingness process is being willing to hear the stories we have told ourselves throughout the years that are often untrue and do not need to be accepted anymore.

When we are truly willing to face what appears to be happening, and then willing to let it go and move on, and even to do things or go places that we have previously decided we couldn’t or wouldn’t do, an amazing thing happens.

First, things start to change. It’s like removing a log jam from a stream, and the water starts flowing again.

Then we discover that most of the time, things we don’t want to do or experience but are doing anyway are not required.

What is required is the absolute willingness to stop needing to know or control the outcome and to take action on what needs to be done instead.

In times of change, there are so many possibilities.

• We can choose what we want most.

• We can choose to release what we don’t want.

• We can let our lives be based on what is important and drop the external need to impress.

• We can start each day with the expectation of good moving from us and to us, imagining it as the breath of the divine, giving and receiving in equal measure and ease.

• We can do whatever it takes to be free of our burdens and live unlimited lives.

This is not a magical or even material process.

It is a lifting of our limited perceptions to glimpse the divine infinite provision and possibilities always present.

That glimpse will adjust our experiences to match our higher awareness and acceptance of divine Love. But first, we must be willing.

Let’s be like the bridge and celebrate the opportunity to choose anew.

Let’s be willing to be guided and directed to an improved understanding and experience of the omnipresent good and to experience the difference.

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