This is a pretty big one, because we think we know what’s best and when. But if we really take an honest look, we don’t. For instance, I drove my car into waist deep water in broad daylight a few months ago (it was this strange flood in Pensacola). It was instantly dead. That’s a pretty easy one to say, “This is definitely bad – it shouldn’t have happened.” Of course that’s true, right? Wrong. For all I know, the engine could’ve blown up a week later and now I’m spared that experience. Don’t resist timing. Let it be just how it is, when it is. Because it already is that way anyway…
We only resist the timing of things that we don’t want to happen. Nobody complains about timing when they win the lottery. But when something bad happens, and especially when many bad things happen together or in succession, we have a problem with it. We feel like a helpless victim. Instead, we might want to think of it as life bringing us these things right on time. Don’t worry about the reason, though. Tell yourself right away when things go south that life is bringing you this right now, right on time. So just deal with the situation. When we stop resisting the timing of things, we can handle them better anyway.
Keep this in mind next time bad things happen “at the wrong time.” There is no wrong time. Byron Katie says something like, “When you argue with reality, you lose – but only 100% of the time.” I love that! So true… Arguing with the timing of things is just another way of arguing with reality – it’s happened, it’s done, handle the situation. And when you catch yourself resisting timing, just stop. Take a breath. Feel any tightness inside and let it go. Remind yourself that whatever happened has happened. Life has brought it to you right at that moment, right on time. Handle the situation. Done. It doesn’t mean you wanted this to happen, but this minimizes the pain. We already didn’t want it to happen, so let’s not make it worse by having a problem with the timing.