About six weeks ago I was up in our nursery looking out over the sun swept hillside, throwing a ball for Max and just feeling grateful to be alive.
Grateful for the view, the breeze, and the brilliant sunshine. As I stood there, tossing the ball and watching Max jump and catch it in the field below, I was struck by the joy so evident in his body and his face. He was just one happy dog. And I was just one happy person.
It was still winter, to be sure. The trees were bare. The view, although delightful, was muted in greys and soft grey greens of lichen and bare branches. But all the slopes and hillsides were green bright with the recent rains, and the hint that spring would not be long in coming was palpable in the air.
As I reveled in all this, and considered the day stretching before me, a single line came into my head:
“When we can sincerely choose the highest and best for all, everything else takes care of itself.”
In that moment it occurred to me I’d been doing that pretty well, in all but one area of my life. There was one place where I was still holding out. And in that moment, I realized why.
I was still afraid of the potential outcome. I still felt adversarial, and afraid to let go and trust that if all went well for everyone involved, it would still turn out to be fine for me, too.
I realized all at once in a sort of rush of energy, that if it was really the highest and best for all, it would have no choice but to work out for me, as well as for everyone else.
In that moment I let go. I let go of all the fear and doubt and concern and angst and just let it all fall away. It was as if a gust of wind blew by and carried it all away. And there I was, in perfect peace.
I knew, in some way I cannot really explain, that it was all going to be fine. That everything was always going to be fine, so long as I could remember to make this my first and only choice for whatever was coming my way.
In the next moments, as I tossed the ball and it flew through the air and Max jumped and caught it and raced back up the hill to me, I felt the ease of this new understanding settle deeply into me.
My reverie was interrupted by a ‘ding’ from the phone in my pocket. A message had just come in – and I walked over to the shade to be able to read the phone screen.
It took me a minute, glasses, shade, more shade, then there it was – and the one thing I had quietly wished for, for this day, was granted. Just like that.
I cut short our ball play and Max and I headed down to the house. Now I’d have all afternoon with him at home in the sunshine – my friend had just sent a message saying she’d be coming over sooner than expected, and if I wanted, she could come right now.
I laughed as I stepped into the house and sent the text back encouraging her to come right along.
And just like that, with no effort at all, my whole day was re-organized to suit my exact desire.
Perfect. I’d be off with a friend for an hour or two, and then home again and out in the sun with Max. And I didn’t even have to ask. It just fell into my lap.
“When we can sincerely choose the highest and best for all, everything else takes care of itself.”
It is my belief that this is a key message of our time. And the faster we can learn to follow it, to really honestly trust and allow and expect the best, by asking for it, for all, the faster we will see it changing the world around us. One person, one moment, one life, at a time.
It will ripple out like a changing tide and carry us all to a new shore we have yet to imagine. And when we arrive, we’ll be stunned by the ease, beauty and joy that surround us at every turn.
But first, we have to trust enough to let go, and to truly want the best for everyone. No matter what. Without reservation. Without judgment. Without letting our small self jump in and defend some fearful doubt that it cannot be possible.
Because it is possible. Just try it. You’ll see…
