How often to you make great plans, only to have them brought to a screeching halt by some unforeseen circumstance, like a cancelled flight, a traffic jam, or a client no-show?
And as a spiritually-aware person you say to yourself, “I guess the Universe didn’t want me to do that.” Or “I guess it’s not meant to be.”
The truth is, the stuff that gets in your way isn’t “a sign from the Universe” nearly as often as you think. Believing that is actually your ego’s way of abdicating responsibility – because in our language, “responsibility” means the same as “blame.”
First, let’s get clear about what “signs from the Universe,” and the beings or forces that create them, do. They move you toward things – toward success, toward synchronicities, toward rendezvous with what is wanted, as Abraham would say. They give you indications that you’re on the right path, or what the right path is. Like when three people say the same thing to you in one day, or you see 11:11 on a clock.
Meanwhile, it’s rare that they move you AWAY from things, because unless you’re about to put yourself in danger, saving you from your own mistakes is a violation of your free will. The mandate governing our non-physical friends is to respect our free will above all else, only intervening to prevent occurrences that would have disastrous, rippling consequences. Those exceptions include nuclear war on the grand scale, and untimely death on the individual level.
(Untimely death, in this case, means not being a planned exit point on the soul’s plan. It has nothing to do with the person’s age or anything that we would consider an untimely death from a human perspective.)
So if disruptions aren’t divine interventions, then what are they?
They are manifested consequences of inner resistance.
Yup – most of the unforeseen, unwanted circumstances in our lives are our own doing.
Case in point: Lately I was reminded of the first time I traveled to be at a live event with my mentor Christine Kane. What was supposed to be a quick, easy flight to Atlanta became a day of hell that included a cancelled flight, missing luggage, taking a cab to the wrong hotel, and finally arriving at 1 AM – 14 hours later than originally planned.
The next morning I contemplated the previous day’s troubles with a sincere desire to know the truth. The cancelled flight was the first domino; everything else was due to my panic. But what caused the first domino? The first thought that came to me was that by coming in late, I’d missed the welcome reception. My introverted self doesn’t look forward to these events, but I knew that discomfort wouldn’t have been enough to disrupt my plans. I forge my way into networking events all the time.
Then I remembered my very first chance to meet Christine, back when she was still a musician. I approached her after one of her gigs but was too afraid to tap her on the shoulder and say hi. I had been so overcome with emotion about how her music had changed my life that I was actually intimidated by her. That emotion had enough energy to disrupt plans – even cancel an airline flight.
So what’s the takeaway? How can my story help you know whether something in your life is intervention or resistance? I hope it will help you know these three things about yourself:
1. You are powerful.
Sometimes divine intervention is the explanation we accept because we can’t imagine ourselves powerful enough to create such a big effect. But believe it: You are powerful enough to create traffic and disrupt air travel. You are powerful enough to make your clients no-show. (You’re powerful enough to do good things too, of course.)
2. Your power comes from accepting responsibility.
Until now, “responsibility” has usually meant “blame,” as in “someone did something wrong and it’s essential to pinpoint who.” So the idea of taking responsibility meant accepting that you did something wrong – which, let’s face it, doesn’t feel good.
Let me offer you a different connotation to “responsibility.”
When I’m wondering whether something is divine intervention or a manifestation of my resistance, I assume the latter. Doing so relaxes my mind, in part because I’m no longer fighting against any feelings of being out of control (because even divine intervention can feel like someone else is taking control), and I can receive clearer intuition about the true nature of the situation, including what inner thoughts, beliefs, or feelings I need to change and heal.
3. Anything you create, you can also change.
Once you’ve acknowledged your power to cause unwanted outer circumstances like cancelled flights and client no-shows, and accepted that your unwanted circumstance did originate from your subconscious, the story’s not over. It’s easy to give up: “Well, look what I created. I guess I messed this one up for good.” But it’s never too late to change your outer circumstances by changing your inner thoughts.
This is why I love knowing several energy healing techniques, because they give me ways to instantly uncover and change my thinking. But it’s not really about the techniques; it’s about the practice that they’ve given me in understanding the human psyche. I’ve spent thousands of hours listening to people’s stories and hearing their secret fears, so I recognize them much easier. With practice, you can apply similar listening skills – listening to yourself to recognize the thought patterns that trip you up most often.
Make a point of getting to know yourself, and get to know the most effective ways for you to make a quick turnaround. When you do, you’ll find that miraculous things can happen to turn an unwanted circumstance into something happily wanted.
Your turn
Share about a time when you got in your own way.
What was the outward unwanted circumstance?
And do you know why it happened?