I got home today with a splitting headache*. The kids were with their father, so this was the perfect time to take a bath. The problem was, it hadn’t been a particularly sunny day, and I have a solar-powered water-heater.
No biggie I thought, I’ll just put the booster switch on. it’ll be OK in about 45 minutes, maybe an hour.
I lasted 15 minutes.
(I have never been one for delayed gratification.)
(Apparently it’s a superb measure of how successful one will be. But I digress.)
So, half-way into filling the tub, the water was no longer hot.
Option 1: Have a shallow bath. This did not appeal, given that it was a pretty cold day.
Option 2: See if the tank that supplied the other side of the house had hot water and, if so, use a bucket to bring the water from the other (bathtub-less) bathroom to mine.
Five buckets later, the bath looked reasonably full, but now the water has started to get cold. Feeling like a crazy, cartoon character, I now hurried down, boiled a full kettle of water and brought it upstairs to complete my masterpiece.
It turns out to be a very good bath.
But as I sat there, I had to ask myself, couldn’t I have had the same bath, by waiting an hour and thus avoiding the blood, sweat and tears? That did make sense.
But sometimes, it’s not about what’s logical, we need something now. I need something now. And needing something, rather than choosing to do or have something, are two very different things.
In the first, there that feeling of compulsion and, quite frankly, one is not thinking clearly. The second, is a measured response to a problem. The thing to notice is that the solution in both cases is the same, but the path that leads there is quite different.
The bath example is easy. Next time, I will wait for the water to heat up (or would certainly like to think I would). But, in other areas of my life, would I be so patient, especially when I don’t know how long it will take?
There is this lovely line in the book, A Course in Miracles: Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety.
If I know I will get pregnant/find a better job/lose weight, if I have that unwavering faith, what is time? What’s the point of putting a cake in the oven and taking it out a mere five minutes after putting in? Why are we all so impatient?
Because we do not trust. We don’t trust that we deserve good things, or we worry that someone, somewhere, has decided that we are unworthy and are meant to suffer - and all for some unknown reason.
This is simply not true. I think of all the instances in the lives of my clients and myself, where we have literally believed that miracle could happen: whether it was a new partner/house/financial windfall or even a baby.
So do your bit, switch on the hot water, mix your cake ingredients, plant that seed, and then wait - without anxiety - because you know what is coming, you are assured of the outcome, and you know that is will be perfect.
Because then, it will be ready.
