It was about this time of year when I took this photograph in the beautiful countryside along the Netherlands – Belgium border. I was out for an early morning walk on the narrow dirt road that leads to the Klooster Nieuwkerk (Nieuwkerk Cloister) retreat center where I was teaching a four-day workshop. The sun was just coming over the horizon, a hazy fog softened the distant view, and the fields were still wet with dew. The country air had that pungent smell of rich, moist, fertile earth that tells you that spring has arrived. And the gooey, muddy road was marked with deep ruts carved out by the tires of the farmers’ tractors. I was happy that our host at the Klooster had offered me walking boots!
The farmers were busy now with plowing and the early spring planting. They were preparing the soil, planting seeds, and taking care of their land. Inside the Klooster in our “Manifestation Wheel” workshop, we were also metaphorically “working the land” of our visions and dreams. Just as seasoned farmers are stewards of the land, we were learning how to be the best stewards of our visions and dreams.
One of the things that we talk about in the “Manifestation Wheel” workshop is that everything has its own natural rhythm and flow. Life happens in its own time.
For example, if you are baking a cake, the cake cannot get done any faster than the chemical reactions can occur in the oven. However, if you leave the cake in the oven for too long, it dries out and may even burn. If you are working on a project, the project will not be completed until all of the pieces have come into place. Some of those pieces will be intentionally put into place and others will somehow just happen. Yet if you hold the natural process back or stretch it out for too long, the project loses energy and people lose interest.
New life in any form has a gestation process, and if that process is hurried or cut short, or if it is extended for too long, the health and strength of the new life will be compromised. In other words, “It takes as long as it takes.”
Farming requires hard work and a lot of patience. There are many things that the farmer cannot control. Turning visions and dreams into reality also takes committed work and patience. And as with the farmer, there are many things that we cannot control. When we let go of control and align our approach and actions with the greater potential waiting to unfold through our visions, that’s when the magic of manifestation can happen.
Psychologist and medical anthropologist Alberto Villoldo says, “Patience has nothing to do with waiting. Patience is about understanding the right moment for action and the right moment for stillness.”
True patience is not a passive, “wait and see” thing. Nor is surrender a passive giving up. Both patience and surrender, in their highest forms, are proactive processes of listening, sensing, and intuiting what the moment is asking for – what wants to happen next – and then responding. Sometimes, things move so fast that we can hardly keep up, and at other times, the movement is painfully slow.
However, there is never nothing happening. Something is always happening. The Hermetic Principle of Vibration tells us that everything is energy in motion, constantly moving and changing. The Principle of Rhythm tells us that everything is either in a process of expanding and growing or of fading and receding. Life is like a great dance. And the more we are able to flow with the dance – to follow the direction of our visions and to partner with what wants to happen – the more synergy and synchronicity can unfold.
“It takes as long as it takes.” Do your part. Remain diligent and committed, yet flexible and fluid when what wants to happen isn’t exactly as you envisioned it. If you let the higher nature of your vision show you the way, it will show you each next step. You will know when it is time for action and when it is time for stillness. And the greatest potential within your vision or dream can unfold.
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