Most of what makes an experience so magical is that we are experiencing it at just the right moment.



Running Soundtrack

For the past several days I’ve had the melody to a song I’ve only heard once or twice repeating over and over in the back of my mind. I didn’t even know the lyrics, but my mind kept spinning the tune anyway. This morning I finally got around to looking up the lyrics, which in turn made me smile from ear to ear. Because the song is perfectly suited to be the soundtrack to the past few wild weeks of my life.

And I think that’s one of the most extraordinary functions of the human brain—it thinks for us even when we’re not consciously thinking. How is this possible? Well, the scientific answer—which I’m always curious about—is that our brain is a sophisticated parallel processing system capable of intuitively assessing and reacting to data that our conscious mind is never even aware of. Tuning in and playing the running soundtrack of our lives is only a small example of our unconscious mind’s true potential.

But despite my love for science, I don’t always want or need a scientific explanation for every little thing that happens in life. When just the right thing happens at just the right moment, I simply want to believe that it was meant to be. And even when complications arise, I want to believe that these complications are necessary evils—necessary because they force us to learn, adapt, and overcome. Which is, I’ve learned, a big part of why we’re here in the first place.

Distracted

This afternoon I walked to a local park with my laptop to get some work done in the fresh air. But after a short time, I was distracted by a young boy entertaining himself with nothing more than a wooden stick and his imagination. And it brought me back to a simpler time. You know… that time during our youth when we weren’t scared to dream without reason. Just watching him was a soothing experience—a reminder that we, as adults, occasionally need to overcome the precincts of maturity and just let our imaginations run free. It was a healthy distraction to say the least.

Anyway, once I became conscious of the fact that I was getting no work done, I walked back home and sat down at my desk. And I suddenly realized the melody that had been spinning in my head like a broken record had finally ceased. Satisfied by this newfound mental silence, I got to work. But before long, the absent melody was replaced by an overbearing, mouthwatering craving for chocolate cake. And the weird thing is, I usually don’t eat sweets.

After a few moments of contemplation, I decided that going to the grocery store to get a chocolate cake was a silly idea. “You can eat chocolate cake later,” I thought to myself. “But right now, you need to finish your work.” So I did just that. I got back to work.

Tuned In

And I had almost completely forgotten about the chocolate cake, until Angel came home a couple hours later with a to-go box from a restaurant. She placed it on my desk and said, “Hey sweetie, Janet and I went out to lunch this afternoon and my eyes were bigger than my stomach. So I figured I’d bring the leftovers home for you to snack on.” I opened the lid of the to-go box to find a quarter of a chicken wrap and a small slice of chocolate cake.

I chuckled out loud. Certainly there are plenty of valid explanations for this kind of synchronicity. The most basic being that when we are tuned in to our feelings (a craving for example) and truly aware of our environment (actually opening the to-go box), these synchronous coincidences will seem to occur more often. But as you know, even though I am fascinated by the science, I sometimes prefer to live in a more magical, philosophical world.

So my explanation, which needs no substantiation from any source other than my own life experience, is that when we are tuned in to our lives—I mean truly tuned in both emotionally and intellectually to the circumstances and people around us—the melody to a common soundtrack is always playing. And when we choose to listen to the music, and dance, every move we make happens in sync, and with…

Divine Timing

Think about the timing of your life for a moment.

What if instead of pushing so hard to make things happen every second, you decided to let go a little? What if instead of trying to always be in control, you sometimes surrendered control to something bigger than yourself? What if instead of working so hard to figure out every last answer, you allowed yourself to be guided to solutions in perfect timing?

Truly, the right things will often enter your life when you’re not even looking for them.

They will enter your life at just the right time. When you can function just fine without them for awhile. When you have stopped needing to control everything. When you are confident in yourself and your surroundings. When you don’t need anything more to make you happy because you are at peace with where you are.

The right things will enter your life when you are done running and hiding. When you have taken a deep breath and made yourself available and open to the realities unfolding in front of you.

The right things will enter your life when you stop rushing. When you simply do your best, without trying to force what’s not yet supposed to happen. When you allow your efforts and outcomes to unfold and evolve naturally.

The right things will enter your life when you clear your mind and focus on the present. When you let go of the baggage from yesterday that’s been clouding your vision of today’s blessings.

Truth be told, when you are ready—truly ready—to experience the full breath of the moment you’re in, to taste that slice of chocolate cake when it arrives, that’s precisely when you’ll notice it sitting there in front of you.

That’s the divine magic of life.

Have faith in it.

(Note: Angel and I take a deeper dive into the process of letting go and embracing life’s divine timing in our New York Times bestseller, Getting Back to Happy: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Reality, and Turn Your Trials into Triumphs.)

Now, it’s your turn…

Please leave a comment below and let me know about something in your life that happened at just the right time.

What is YOUR story of divine timing?

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