What Was All That About

I ask this question because I've been convinced for some time that life isn't really a mishmash of random events, but an always unfolding adventure littered with clues about what should happen next.

Here's a short example.

I finished reading a book on Monday and promptly picked up another. The new book is called 'Slow'. On Tuesday things I'd been promised failed to materialise - the bank failed to transfer money on time, contractors didn't deliver, the lawyers didn't have all the information, the accountant couldn't provide the numbers until a week on Tuesday, which holds up funding and so on and on.

Then on Wednesday I went along to 'Speed Choice', a half day workshop for people caught speeding on camera. (And yes, I did get caught before you ask - heading home, late at night, between Bristol and Bath).

I arrived early for the workshop and had a few minutes to gather my thoughts. Every morning I always ask myself the questions, 'What would I like to have happen today?'

It was a long shot, but I wished I could have everything that had been held up earlier in the week. Which was a silly request really as I would be unavailable until around 7pm that evening, and unable to attend to anything until the next day - unless I ignored the family, which is not a fair option.

And that was the way it happened. Nothing materilised, except the realisation that my week was clearly about the 'choice' between speed and slowness.

And then on Thursday, at around 10.29am everything went crazy. Everything I'd been waiting for materialised in the space of 30 minutes. And not just that, the phone rang when I didn't need it too, the mechanic turned up on the door to collect the car and a report I'd been waiting for arrived.

Evaluating everything that had happened to me over the course of Thursday, including England's World Cup victory, I had to say to myself, that although the week wasn't necessarily going to my plan, if you'd asked me earlier in the week if I'd take the results that came about, I'd have said a resounding, yes.

But what can I share with you about these experiences?

Well, at 'Speed Choice' I learned that if I slowed my speed by around 3.7 mph in a 30 mph zone I'd be more likely to save life than create death.

In reading Slow I got a reminder that by decelerating we can find more depth.

And, in the events of the week, I got to appreciate the higher intelligence of the Universe for knowing on which day of the week I'd be best able to facilitate all it has for me to handle.

And there's a thought, an intelligence that knows when to slow and when to flow. Can the world really be that magnificent?

Try allowing it for a week, and do, please, let me know how it goes.

Best

Neil