When you need a big change and it’s not coming

There are folks in our Learning Community who have made big leaps forward, yet are still stuck. What I mean is that they’ve seen significant increases in the number of clients, the amount of money they are making, and ease in running their business.

However, they are still stuck because there’s a big gap they need to cross. That gap could be a move they want to make, or maybe a large debt from their past that needs to be cleared.

This is a different situation from just having a dream. A dream is something you want to move toward, whereas I’m talking about a painful situation in the present that you want to get out of as quickly as you can.

Here’s the challenge: the change that is yearned for by the folks I’m thinking of, maybe by you, could be far off in the future, or only be delivered by the Divine miracle express. Not fun.

Typically I see two types of approaches recommended:

1. Work hard, both spiritually and physically, to create a breakthrough for yourself. Expect to get there.
2. Be where you are, be humble and grounded and content with what you have.

Both have merit. If the situation you’re in sucks, work to change it. What’s more, believe that change is possible. On the other hand, spiritual traditions around the world teach us to be in the present moment, to be content with where we are and what we have, that the miracle is in the Now.

I can feel the tug between them myself, I bet you can, too. How do you balance yourself between contentment and yearning? The answer? You don’t.

Every Monday in our Community we hold a live guided Remembrance call that is focused on one topic or another. Several times, we have focused on this very topic — and I have been happy to add the recordings to our library. My approach is based on a Sufi teaching:

“Be expectant of Divine Generosity and be patient with Divine decree.”

We wild Sufis have a both-and approach. Sometimes when you combine two things, they become a blend of both, fully integrated with each other. Mix blue and yellow and you end up with green, losing both the blue and the yellow.

But in this case we don’t want a drab green mixture of contentment and yearning. The heart can’t rest with that.

Instead, we focused on holding both in the heart at the same time. Feeling the pure yearning, and cherishing the hope that goes with it. That hope is medicine, as my sheikh says. And not just hope, but “expectancy.” We’re directed to expect the Divine gifts and generosity, that miracles can and do happen, that change comes and leads us into the promised land.

Take a moment to drink that in, to cherish the hope and possibility in your heart. Yes! It can happen!

At the same time, to stand firmly on the ground where you are, to find the sincerity and acceptance in your heart that breeds a loving patience, and the willingness to find the gifts and beauty where you are, despite, or with, the challenges. You’re here, so there must be a reason you’re here. There can be something so healing about allowing yourself to fully stand where you are, to let the weight of your being rest on the ground beneath you, without trying to escape it.

Take a moment to drink that in, and to savor the stability and strength from having your feet under you.

Notice that these two feeling-states live in different parts of you. One is grounding, the other soaring. Think of a tree, whose roots go so deeply into the ground while at the same time her branches soar above into the sky.

Allow yourself to be aware of both in yourself at the same time, what I’ve heard referred to as an “inclusive awareness.”

I have no idea when change will happen for the clients I mentioned at the beginning. We’re in the middle of their story. However, I’ve seen enough other stories of other clients to know that change does happen, so I have a tremendous amount of hope. I also trust deeply that where they are standing, they have the resources and love available to find contentment and groundedness.

For you, can you taste both the expectancy and hope of Divine Generosity and the patience and contentment with the Divine decree? What happens for you when you taste it?

With love and appreciation,

Mark Silver, M.Div. Heart of Business, Inc. Every act of business can be an act of love. www.heartofbusiness.com

P.S. Sometimes business owners know what to do, but… just… don’t… get to it: marketing, bookkeeping and other financial tasks, setting up systems, sending out invoices, raising prices…

You know. Resistance to those things.

There are Sufi spiritual insights into resistance that keep you from battling it and keep you from collapsing. This approach brings healing and care, and helps you step forward in surprisingly easy ways.

Sign up using this link for this free 30 minute webinar and a recording will be sent to you via email. https://www.heartofbusiness.com/spiritual-truths-resistance-li/