“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” You’ve probably heard this numerous times over the years. I have anyway. I googled it this morning to see who actually said it. Wasn’t Buddha. Wasn’t Ghandi. Wasn’t even Obi Wan Kenobi, which was my guess. In fact, I lost interest before I could finish the article that divulged true authorship, but the sentiment is right on.
I’ve been noticing more and more that when I focus my energy and take steps in a certain direction, interesting people show up on my path. I listen to podcasts, order a book and then run into someone who is reading the same book. Or, I listen to a TedX talk and then one of my favorite podcasters mentions the speaker even though I’d never heard of her before and I’m a Ted junkie. So while I’ve always believed that coincidences were almost always divine appointments, sometimes synchronicity can be downright spooky.
Life has always brought me the people I needed. Even though sometimes I didn’t realize at the time, when I look back at memories, experiences, circumstances, I realize that God–or whatever you want to call the omniscient, omni-benevolent universal energy source–always sent people to help me through. Sometimes those people vanished shortly after; some are still here. You know…reasons, seasons, lifetime.
But recently, it has been a different sort of energy. People seem to bring a specific idea or a very obvious lesson. I meet people who are exploring similar ideas or reading the same books or writing a book…whatever it is, it seems each day someone crosses my path with some nugget of wisdom or truth or love.
So this begs the question, “Has this been happening all along and I was too oblivious to notice?” Perhaps. I might have walked past hundreds of everyday gurus missing them and their lessons. I’m not going to ruminate on that because I want to focus my energy on being awake and aware to the new lessons–even painful ones–that each interaction brings.
I’ve always believed that my kids are my greatest teachers, and when I am present enough to step back from imposing my will on them and instead follow my current feeling to its origin, it’s nearly always transformative. I’ve been trying to apply that beyond my precious offspring and onto others and to allow myself to be open and vulnerable enough to accept without seeking acceptance.
And I think all of this is possible because I’m no longer giving away my time and energy to people and situations that don’t bring me joy. I have more room in my mind, my heart and my life for positive energy, good people and life lessons. Not the same ones you have to keep learning over and over because they don’t sink in, but the good kind. The kind that make you get up and take an actual physical step toward your goals.
So, I would encourage you, if you’re reading this, stop swatting the proverbial bee’s nest because you’ll just keep getting stung. Take a step back from situations or people that don’t bring you joy and take a big giant leap toward something or someone that makes your heart sing. I’m going to as well. We can do it together. I’ll encourage you.
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