Ever feel like all you do is wait? Wait for the delivery, wait in line, wait for payday, wait for something to start and for things to end. Catch yourself thinking or saying “I can’t wait for…” We can’t wait. Can’t is used when we feel helpless hopeless. But what if we can wait. What if we could find sweetness in the act of waiting?
We are attached to the state of wait. Why? Because it represents something we desire…or dread. What we wait for generally involves bringing something into our lives or taking something away. The limbo of the waiting space becomes a place where we can spin and twist in anxiety, impatience, fear, or greed.
The action of waiting can be very painful.
What are you currently waiting on? Something profound like the end of the pandemic? Or something insignificant like an Amazon order? How do you feel while waiting? Anxious, annoyed or impatient? Mad? Sad or worried? Maybe excited? Some waiting can be fun and anticipatory like waiting on a joyous life event a birth, marriage, a vacation, or reunion. Waiting often stirs up a great deal from the emotional depths of our being.
It’s an in-between state, a void which snatches away our control, or our illusion of control. We feel helpless to do nothing more than simply wait. We fill the void with our thoughts and feelings. It’s how we react to the waiting which is within our control. We might try and detach from the uncertainty. Let go of expectations and stories we create about the outcome once the wait is over.
We are woefully attached to waiting because we are woefully attached to outcomes. Our minds and egos constantly attempting to orchestrate our futures for better or worse. In sickness and health till death do we part from this earth.
We can choose to allow flow and surrender to the limbic state of wait. We can further choose to let go of our attachments to the outcomes, to what we desire for our future. Learn to recognize and filter out, all the messaging about who we are, and what we should want. It can help to get very clear on what we really do want. What we authentically need for our highest purpose and growth. For the higher purpose of our collective needs and evolution.
None of this work is easy. It’s a practice which requires patience and compassion with ourselves. We actually have to wait for the fruits of this discipline to unfold. And waiting is hard right?
I’m currently waiting on a lot. So much has changed around how I show up personally and professionally in my life. I’m waiting on what’s next. How to offer myself towards purpose and how to serve the community. I’m waiting on the community itself. My personal wait feels cumbersome. But really it’s just a state of surrender. I can wait to see what comes my way. I can wait in trust with faith. I can love myself in this vulnerable place.
Because the truth is we cannot shape our futures no matter how much energy we invest in the wait. The future has its own unknown energy and no amount of waiting can change that. So, learn to try and enjoy the in between, the wait. Cultivate curiosity about the outcome and surrender to the flow.