I am trying to keep my cool, but if she doesn’t make a decision soon, I might just lose it!
I am standing in the middle of a boutique toy store with my 7-year old daughter; we are buying a gift for one of her friend’s birthday and she has just stumbled upon a jackpot of Shopkins ― a collectible series of miniature kitschy shopping toys with names like “Miss Mushy-Moo” (a mushroom) and “Beverley Heels Suzie” (shoes). They have a whole video series on YouTube, and my daughter has just discovered the Motherload of “Season 3” finds on our way to the checkout counter. She’s holding two packages in her hands, seemingly identical but apparently what’s inside is a total surprise (for my older friends, think collectible Baseball cards). My daughter is frozen, trying to decide on whether to pick what’s in her right hand or her left. The ‘not knowing’ which Shopkins are inside is getting to her. She begs me to let her buy them both so she doesn’t have to make a decision. I stand firm in my resolve that she must learn to let go of the control and to just “go with the flow” of life and be happy with the surprises along the way.
As she continues to grapple with this mounting decision — I stand there and think about how this is such a problem for most of us. We all just want to know what the hell is inside! What are we bargaining for? What are we going to get for what we pay? Where will life take us if we decide to go down a certain path? Why can’t we just know how this will all turn out already?
Life is about making choices and then being okay with what unfolds. This is faith
We all struggle with this one, don’t we? No matter what religion we claim (or don’t claim), faith is a part of our daily routines and lies deep within the inner walls of our subconscious. Having faith means you understand there is a powerful energy at work — and regardless if you choose the right hand or the left, your course has already been mapped out because something deep within you has already chosen the way. This unnamed and unmarked beacon that guides and moves you is a bigger player than you, and there is nothing you can do to outsmart it so you just have to trust it, and go with it; you just have to have faith.
In these moments, it is hard to relinquish the control, but the light always shines brighter when you do. Once we allow life to simply unfold is when we get to really discover what life is all about. When we drop the daily struggle to choose between the right hand or the left, we are so much more open to the expansiveness that is waiting for us. Before we know it, the Universe hands us a heaping helping of abundance that fills up both of our hands.
I can’t seem to find the words to explain this to my 7-year old .... but I know this to be true as I navigate the journey through my 40’s. Knowing that there is a LIGHT that is the Captain of my ship makes the twists and turns along the way more enlightening, revealing, and remarkable.
I no longer dwell on the things that did not go my way. I see it more as a mere revealing of my particular path. That path is my way... and it’s the only way that will move me forward.
Therefore, I have faith.