(photo by Extra Medium)
The best things in life are worth waiting for. Really.
A few synchronicities conspired to inspire me to write about this now.
These include:
- A quote that recently swam through my twitter stream: “Sometimes the problem has to mature before the solution can mature.” – Kent Beck
- The New Moon (in Virgo) that’s arriving on Wednesday, September 8 at 3:30 am PDT: Astrologer Anne Ortelee says that NOW is the time to get crystal clear and launch those projects that are very close to your heart. (They won’t fully culminate until December 2012, though,so be patient)
- When I face some important matters pertaining to my career, my relationships, my next steps (my heart), I receive the inner guidance: Don’t act. Just WAIT.
And I can’t help but wonder, does anyone really have the patience to wait anymore?
We place linear, consistent progress on a pedastool. Think snow plows and bull dozers. They keep at it, rain or shine, day or night, regardless what’s in the way. (My yoga teacher jokes: “It’s no coincidence that men created snowplows!”) No offense, men. They’re a great a great invention and I’m grateful. But so are labrynths–circular, unpredictable, intelligently nonsensical journeys to the center.
What would it mean to value patience, deep listening, and trusting in our own unique creative rhythms–even at risk of seemingly “falling behind”?
I’ve felt this in a really pronounced way this summer. Having chosen to drastically step back from most of my endeavors–personal and professional– to finish my manuscript, I watch others launching, sharing, moving forward. It makes me feel uncomfortable–like I’m missing out on something. Like I’m falling behind or not doing enough.
And yet, my inner voice keeps saying, “Wait, Sara, just wait. You’re exactly where you need to be.” And I’m listening. But I’m not gonna lie: it’s not always easy. But it’s right.
If patriarchial culture values consistency and timelines, a more feminine-based culture would value intuitive cycles of action and rest.
Right now, the scales tip more towards the former. To strike more balance within ourselves and our communities, women and men need to have the courage to slow down and relinquish the lost art of waiting. Then, together, we can change the pace of the collective flow.
We need to surrender our obsession with quick fixes. Let go of feeling like we need to be “on” every day and learn to radically forgive ourselves when we’re not. We need to value quiet alone time (i.e. unplugging) as potent opportunities for incubation, healing, and inner listening. Then we can emerge again when the creative and physical energy is strong, ripe, ready.
Nature knows how to do this. You plant a seed and don’t expect it to bear fruit that same day. You conceive a child and don’t give birth that evening. There’s a mysterious alchemy that needs to happen for true, authentic art to emerge in the world. And we’re all artists in our own ways. It’s hard to remember that when we’re racing for the finish line.
I ask you just as I ask myself: please be more patient. Please take time to rest, be quiet, and look inside. Please trust your gut. Please let life show you the way rather than trying to make things right and well, and in a hurry. Please stop thinking it’s cool to always be “productive” and uncool to be “lazy.” Please trust life’s perfect rhythm and stop messing with it. Please practice the art of waiting. You need it. We need it.
Take a moment of pause to contemplate what this really means for you in your life right now:
- In what areas of your life are you swimming upstream? What’s not flowing? What are you working to hard at and trying to control, fix, or manipulate?
- Do you know how to connect with your inner voice? Really know what it sounds like and how it comes through you? If so, how often to you listen? What is it trying to tell you now?
- What is one thing that you could loosen your grip on right now and just let things be?
- How do you feel in your body when you’re rushing?
- What are the things in your life that you’ve waiting for and it’s been so worth it? What did it teach you about yourself and about life?
