Dancing the Rhythm of Prosperity

Yesterday was one of those days. I started off walking with Ganesh, my standard poodle. I was out for over two hours because a neighbor, who has a younger standard poodle named Clifford, asked if the dogs could have a play date. It was terrific, just sitting with her, watching the dogs play, and then going off for my usual five-mile hike, and being enthralled with the sights and sounds of the nature park and my neighborhood. What could go wrong? Well, by the end of the day, everything that could go wrong had. Everything was small, but by the time evening had settled, I felt just as low as I had felt high in the morning.

The only solution I had was to go for another walk in the cold of the night to reset my mood. As I was walking, I reflected on the day. What was Spirit showing me? How was I being led, through all of this, to a greater understanding of who I have come here to be? But, walking in the dark for the first mile seemed to exacerbate the downside of my feelings. I started to remember how I would have handled this long ago. It would not have been pretty. It would have been petty, and I would have likely either blown up at someone or been in a funk for days on end. Sarcasm would have run at a fever pitch.

I know that part of me, and I have intentionally not buried it. Instead, I have tried to integrate it into my life because I know that what we consider weaknesses and push away are the flip side of our inherent strengths. When we try to bury the bad, it often weakens the good. So now, I allow the shadow aspect of me a little bit of time to inform me of its thoughts. Then, by consciously hearing its complaints, I might see a tiny bit of truth or maybe discover an insight in the middle of all of that mess.

I began to think about how we are often caught in the middle of these minor episodes in our life, or even longer epochs where we spiral downward out of control. What do I believe in those times? What do I think about them?

For me, at that moment, it came back to faith. Am I going to listen to my head or my heart? Am I going to go back to limiting the universe to what I can record on an instrument and analyze with my head, or am I going to know the truth of my intuition and stand up for what my heart is telling me is real?

So what was the truth that my intuition was imparting to me? It was so basic. I was simply off-beat with the universe. I needed to be in sync with the rhythm of Prosperity that is the Truth of Spirit. Instead of seeing that the contractors had done a crappy install of my toilet (which was 20 years ago) and focusing on my judgment of their lack of professionalism, I could be grateful that nothing permanent was wrong and that I was able to fix it with three hours of effort and see how everything is perfect now. Instead of feeling slighted by the people around me and judging their actions as being less than, I can be grateful that after 40 years of being together, that our friendship is what is essential, and that I had not even told them I was having “one of those days,” so how were they supposed to know to do anything different. The common thread of my discontent was my judging people as “less than.” Recognizing it as my shadow allowed me to choose to dance the rhythm of Prosperity instead of being a wallflower in creating my own life.

Happily, it only took one more mile of walking to figure that out, and so the day ended as peacefully as it began. I finished the night quietly chatting with my husband, seeing my dog at the side of the bed, and knowing that I was once again in sync with the universe around me.