When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I’ve heard that as you look for the synchronicities in your life, the synchronicities will appear. Of course, it’s also true that you see what you look for. Either way, as one begins to look for the patterns in life, to see life as operating on your behalf rather than being random or even stacked against you, both beliefs I have held, life just feels different. Even what appears to be a set back is transformed into something temporary, for you gain, like an obstacle on an obstacle course.
Shifting paradigms like this isn’t easy for someone like me. I’ve always been a plan for the worst kind of person. When I was meeting with a life coach a few weeks ago we talked about my persistent fear that I would end up homeless and starving even though nothing in my experience, nothing objective, says I should have that fear. Yet, I do. I’ve been attending a Unity church for going on three years now. Unity isn’t exactly a name it and claim it church, but they are about right thinking and manifesting your future. I’ve always considered this to be poppycock as my rational, engineering brain cannot figure out how this mechanism works. And, if it is true, why don’t we all just think rich thoughts and have financial abundance. So, I’ve resisted this thinking, wishing I could believe, but not getting there.
Two things have come along in the last couple of weeks that are working really well for me. The first is the series of books “The Team” by Frances Key. The Team is a collection of four books that Frances Key says were dictated to her by her mother who has passed into the spirit world. I don’t know if these are the best wisdom books ever written. I suppose the best wisdom book is the one that comes to you at the time you need it. I heard Frances on a podcast. When she was asked a question rather than answer it herself, she would turn to the words in the book, the words that she had physically written herself. There is something about the way her mother phrased the teachings that is almost magical. I find myself highlighting entire chapters. So, I’ve pretty much given up trying to highlight the meaningful passages. For the first time ever, I really feel like I have a Team right here with me. I was kidding my friend who teaches Enneagram that these books are perfect for type 9 people because we often have problem defining boundaries between us and other people. The entire premise of these books is that none of us is an individual. We are part of a team. I am the one on the court right now, but I am playing not only for myself, but for the entire team, in fact, all of humanity. The lessons I learn, the good I do, the benefits are shared by everyone. And, my team is here supporting me as I go through the trials and tribulations of this world. One of the big questions of life is “Why am I here?” Most of the people in the circles I run in now say it’s for personal development. According to the books it’s primarily to benefit mankind and my Team. Personal growth is a side effect of that effort.
The other thing that has come along is a series of meditations by Kenneth Soares that I discovered on Insight Timer. I get bored doing the same meditations every day, so I’ll sometimes meditate to ambient sounds, sometimes to music, sometimes to a teacher. When I first listened to 22 minutes of affirmations telling basically hypnotizing me with thoughts like I’m unique, I’m connected to everything, I’m powerful… I felt silly. And this guy Kenneth Soares has a Spanish/Mexican accent that makes him sound kind of like a parody of a teacher, or at least that’s how it sounded to me at first. I kind of giggled to myself through the first one, but I kept coming back to it. Unity has a different affirmation that we say every week at church and are instructed to repeat during the week. Nah… I don’t do affirmations. I’ve never taped it to my mirror as is suggested. Then, a couple of weeks ago I was on a Zoom meeting with someone who said that when he met Louise Hay he asked her about affirmations. She said you don’t have to believe them for them to work. Just start by saying them. So, I started with the Power Thoughts meditations by Kenneth Soares, listening to several of them over a period of several days. And, I can feel them making a difference. It’s not an overnight transformation. It’s two steps forward and one step back. But, there is a slight shift. Small setbacks aren’t bothering me as much as they did before I started doing the meditations. When they do upset me, I catch those thoughts and I’m at least conscious of how I am not viewing this from the view of my higher self.
I’m just started book three of The Team series. I’m mixing in the affirmations with other meditations now. Neither of these would have made sense to me three years ago, maybe not even three weeks ago, but I feel like when I was ready, they were there in my life. And, I anticipate as I keep my eyes open for these things I’ll continue to have an increased appreciation for the patterns in the apparent chaos.
