For this summer, let’s hold the thought, “timing is everything.” If you find out who first said it, please let me know. In the meantime, the most meaningful quote I’ve found about this topic is, “Timing is everything & the absence of patience causes us to miss opportunities” (author unknown). My upcoming retreat will focus on just this wisdom.
In the meantime, we can benefit from Ecclesiastes 3:1 with…
To Everything There is a Season
To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
Speaking of timing, it is amazing, that a full year after publication of FROM BAGELS TO BUDDHA, my memoir about digging in my heels on the path to recovery, I am finally figuring out what it is about and am finally giving away another large chunk of weight. I am excited about spreading the message that true recovery from overeating involves not obsession with diets and exercise, not psychobabble, not investigating childhood wounding, not diagramming family trees, birth order, and family roles or personality games. Those are all important ingredients for an ongoing recovery, but the essential characteristic involves a spiritual surrender. Spiritual surrender is all about timing: surrender won’t come until we are ready (the teacher appears when the student is ready). Have we experienced enough pain and are ready to move forward? It means facing your wall and leaning into it. That keeps us teachable, motivates us to continuous growth and seeking, renders us humble, sensitive, and aware and vulnerable to our human plight and our commonality with those around us. It also involves taking on new behaviors, not just new ideas. Deeds are more important than creeds! As a result of my finally coming to terms with the essential core message of my book, I am offered many opportunities to speak and network this summer (Timing again – I wasn’t ready before). As you may know, many of us who live in the desert try to get out of town in the hot months. Here are my tentative plans. Hope you’ll join me along the way on the road to happy destiny.