I sat at the Mississippi yesterday. I sat at the Mississippi because Spirit told me to. That's how I try to live today, by asking Spirit what Spirit wants from me today. What I thought I wanted to do yesterday was attend a writing workshop: short, inexpensive, yoga/writing workshop at Wild Lotus. Seemed harmless enough. As I prepared to say to someone, "I'm going to attend this workshop tomorrow," I thought, I'll check it out first. I did my magic thing to know the Almighty's will at any time (yes, you too can know the God of the Universe's will at any time as well: it's called muscle testing) and the answer was no on the workshop. And as I asked, and wondered, "Really, why not?" (I wonder that often when I don't get the answer I am expecting, or wanting) an image of myself sitting by the river came to my mind. So I asked, "Sit by the river and get some sun?" and the answer was yes. So I changed my plans.
Free will universe, friends. I did not have to change my plans. But I chose to, because I am trust that the more I respect and respond to Guidance, the more I am guided.
I went to the river after a trip to the knitting store with my friend who lives near the river. So it made sense to go directly to the river from her house, instead of going home first to get my laptop, my blanket, my pad to sit/lie on, my pillows, my whatever all I had decided I would take on this adventure. You can tell it's been a long time since I had just sat outside by the river. Mostly due to weather and home-body-ness. This is only ten minutes from my house.
So I take only the yarn I have just purchased, a bottle of water and a small coat to sit on. I sit by the river. And wonder what I am doing there. Expecting... someone to walk up and discover me? Meet my soul-mate? Have a profound vision? Heal the world? I expect something, but honestly, only for a few minutes. Then I am able to just settle in and notice the world around me. The feel of the warm sun, the cool but not cold breeze. The light reflecting off the water, the sounds of the people around me. I am one of many drawn to the river this day, as it should be. I notice I am glad to be around people, just listening to the hum of their voices (noticing how I judge them when I can hear what they say, and then let it go).
I take out my yarn, and start to make balls out of the skeins. A couple of tugboats chug upriver, honking at us on the bank, some gulls fly by and the surface of the water reflects the sun and clouds in turn.
Okay, are you ready? Here it comes. The message, the revelation, the reward. Whenever I follow Guidance, I am almost always rewarded by wisdom, clarity, awareness... knowledge.
As I watch the surface of the river, I think, Gosh, it looks like the surface of a lake. I understand why people think they can swim across it. It isn't smooth as glass like a lake can be. There are ripples and wavelets, lots of movement, but in no particular direction. It doesn't look like a river flowing by at an inhuman rate of speed. You can't tell that more than 200,000 cubic feet of water is coursing by every second - just below the surface.
Here's the message: Should I ever think that nothing is going on in my life, if things appear calm, even boring, or if I am mildly or greatly confused, know that there is movement beneath the surface that I cannot even fathom. It has a destination. It - I - am going somewhere.
