Hello friends,
My good friend Steven Lane Taylor, who is the author of Row, Row, Row Your Boat: Living Life In The Divine Flow, sent this article recently. I hope you enjoy it. (I highly recommend Steven's book too.)
Are You Too Smart For Your Own Good?
One of the talks I regularly present is titled “Are You Too Smart For Your Own Good.” I love that title, because it perfectly describes one of the main reasons we don’t always experience the divine flow in our lives. We let logic, reason, and all that stuff we think we “know” interfere with the divine guidance we are receiving. The direction we are being pointed in might be perfectly clear, yet we dismiss it or overrule it because it “doesn’t make sense.”
One of the key principles for living life in the divine flow is to let go of what you think you know. That doesn’t mean that you have to forget everything you have been taught, or ignore the conclusions you have drawn based upon your experience. It simply means to keep an open mind—to know that there is always more to know than you currently know.
I remember a time a couple of summers ago when the electric bill for the apartment I was living in suddenly skyrocketed. I thought there were only three possible explanations for this. One, the electric meter was faulty. Two, there was something wrong with my air conditioning unit. Or three, some other appliance in my home was “pulling” too much current.
I called the maintenance man at my complex to come over and take a look. Together, it took us several hours to track down the problem. And guess what? The problem wasn’t 1, 2, or 3. It was 4. It was something that neither of us would ever have thought of.
As it turned out, the electric meter for my apartment, and the one for the apartment below me, had been accidentally switched during the construction of our units. For several years, I had actually been paying someone else’s electric bill! I never noticed anything unusual until a lady moved in downstairs who kept her thermostat set on 65 degrees day and night, and kept the fan blowing 24 hours a day.
That little incident helped me realize the truth of the old expression, “You just never know!”
To live life in the divine flow you have to be willing to admit that no matter how smart you are, or how much information you have accumulated over the years, your knowledge is still very limited and highly biased. As certain as you are about something, if you are willing to admit that there could still be something that you just haven’t considered, you will leave an opening in your mind that is wide enough for divine direction to get through.
Is there something you think you “know” right now? That’s okay, as long as you are willing to know more than that . . . as long as you are willing to see something from a different perspective . . . as long as you are willing to be wrong, even.
That little bit of willingness is all God needs to get through to you, and to guide you to your highest good in a way that you would never conceive of on your own.
Here's to the brilliance that comes with not knowing . . . and knowing that you don't know!
Steven Lane Taylor
http://RowRowRow.com
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I keep Steven's book on the coffee table in my living room and I recommend it for aanyone who wants to be reminded to live life daily in the Divine flow.
Many blessings.