cultivating a waiting attitude - time is the means ..... part II

Part I of this series is here.

If we are plugging along doing the best we can and it still feels like we are spinning our wheels in our own twisted version of Groundhog Day or we get this close to something we want only to see it all fall apart at the 11th hour maybe the problem isn't what we are doing or what we are wanting - maybe the problem is as simple and as challenging as timing.

We were all born at exactly the right time. Yes, I believe down to the exact second. A doctor's forceps can't screw this up, a mother's deep desire to get this birth over with, a long hard labor - we are born when we intend to be born.

We begin our life doing everything with perfect timing. We eat, we sleep. We learn to walk and talk at our own pace. Babies don't have to plot and plan for these things to happen. They don't have daily planners, make vision boards and form mastermind groups. They just move through life doing what they do and then one day they stand up. Life is no different later on. The rules don't change. The only thing that has changed is us.


The I Ching hexagram for waiting looks like steam. It's rising up to the sky to form clouds. Before the rain comes, clouds must form. This takes time. In the I Ching the steam that accumulates into clouds (that leads to rain) symbolizes the creative energy generated anytime we attain a correct "waiting attitude". This doesn't mean we are sitting on our ass eating chocolate (although of course, this is going to happen from time to time☺).

A "waiting attitude" means we avoid the doubt, impatience and anxiety that drain our energy. 

We avoid (other than the occasional dark chocolate) engaging in detours that cause us to lose sight of our work. We avoid comparing ourselves with others. We remain in contact with our inner voice. 

We cooperate with time as the vehicle of change, knowing when the time comes to act, the Creative impulse will reveal the best way to respond.

Some things we can be asking ourselves are:

1. Am I trying to control the situation? Am I setting up fixed goals and paths? Can I release my attachment to the outcome and just work and enjoy the process?

We have built a paradigm (that is falling apart) in which control is seen as "good" and controllers as powerful. "She's got everything under control" sounds like a compliment until we see her crying into her pillow secretly wishing everything would just fall the hell apart so she doesn't have to carry it any longer.

Certainly there are business situations we need to stay on top of. But when we try to manipulate, push and control things we close off all sorts of wonderful possibilities that we can't line up with when we’re attached to one “right” path.

2. Am I worrying about what other people think? Am I wanting something so others can see me having it?

When we imagine ourselves having our desired goal do we feel the happiness of having it or do we feel the happiness from having others know we have it. Think about it.

3. Are you stuck deciding what to do? Can you begin to release the idea that there is one thing you are meant to do?

We waste so much energy deciding the path to travel - we are standing at that crossroad growing gray hair and baggy eyelids. What if both paths lead to exactly the same place? What if they all do? What if we just have to choose our road and the Creative can use any action we take to get us where we need to be? What if, when someone else succeeds doing it differently, it doesn't mean we have missed out on something or done something wrong? What if the same path wouldn't have worked in the same way for us with the same timing?

Next Part III - receptivity or why we might just need a set of tinfoil antennas