Time to take the getaway van, by letting God drive…

Once again I’m reminded that all effort and inspiration doesn’t come from me. It comes from divine source through me. However, I don’t have to accept every invitation to a crisis. There’s a time and a place to help. There’s a time and a place to say “no”. And when it’s time to say yes…God’s got my back.
 Recently I stumbled upon a post from someone in an online writing group.  It’s a link to a Ted Lecture from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the bestselling book Eat, Pray, Love.  If you are a creative and have the time, I highly recommend it.  This is the link.

Of course, in my belief system, nothing happens by accident.  I ran across this when I was starting to have some serious struggles with a project I’m doing called NaNoWriMo.  It’s an amazing non-profit where in one month approximately 300,000 people come together and write a novel in a month.  We do it from our homes, our offices, separately and collectively.  There is online support and local meet-ups for writing and celebrations.

Staying on task means putting out necessary fires in my home and work life and letting the rest ride.  Just because I decide to write a novel, doesn’t mean the world stops turning.  I facilitate a Facebook group with 400 members.  We invite members to share stories about following their intuition. It’s a beautiful, lovely place to hang out online.  But this month it felt whacked out.  New members were not getting familiar with the group guidelines. In our group we don’t do free readings. That’s because we want members to learn to give themselves readings. We support each other with equal energy exchanges by sharing our experiences and our opinions. For me, someone jumping into the group and immediately asking for a reading is a warning sign. It’s someone who isn’t spending time finding out what the group is about. And in the most recent cases, it was some people doing it as a joke. And believe me, when I caught on, I had a good laugh. People were posting pictures that were somewhat silly…including out-of-date photos, fuzzy profile pics, and some that looked better suited to a dating site. I laughed and then I woke up. Because nothing tests your moxy, like someone pressing your boundaries. Nothing tests the groups guidelines, like people disregarding them.

Because I’d been off writing, some of it got by me.  But others in the group took note.  As one member so eloquently said, we gently hand power back to others when they try to give it away.  Conversely, we also reclaim our power when others try to steal it. The latest round of postings was what I’d call trolling. It was mostly fake people flaunting the rules, with a few others just looking for free readings. It was so obviously outrageous because it happened in droves, that it was not to be missed.

I had been through this before with our group. We all had.  People getting off track or perhaps even jokesters trying to distract from the point and purpose of the group. Last time there was a lot of upset and drama. This time I felt I had two choices.  I could make this a distraction from making my art and have it distract from the group’s purpose…or I could clean house. I prayed and got some counsel from members. For the sake of my art and for the sake of our group I chose “B”.  I chose not to accept an invitation to a crisis.

When I think of people asking for free readings without even knowing members of our group, it makes me wonder. Why would someone trust people they don’t know yet to tell them about their lives? I’m reminded that going to divine source is the first stopping place for all of us. It is with creativity and even more so with psychic abilities.  You may feel God’s presence in another person, but ultimately you have to find  God for yourself. Acknowledging a source greater than ourselves gives us new freedom.

Author Elizabeth Gilbert says that giving credit to a creative guide allows us to stay humble, but if things go terribly wrong, it also gives us someone to blame. Hahahahhaha. I figure going to God first applies in most matters in life, whether it be online Facebook groups, family and friend matters, or creative writing.

The point is…keeping our side of the street clean is the first order of business.  There is no shortage of people out there looking for shortcuts.  In my estimation, some of them can be sneaky.  Here’s a list of red flags I see as a pattern when you or I or someone we know is taking a short cut.  I’ve also included some points to counter those patterns.

1.  I’ll do it myself.  I don’t need help from a higher power.  I have these ideas myself.

“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”
― Paulo Coelho, Brida

2.  I’m going to focus on a problem that no one has asked me to help them with, so that I can distract myself and feel better.

“The lesson I was learning involved the idea that I could feel compassion for people without acting on it. ”
― Melody Beattie, Beyond Codependency: And Getting Better All the Time

3.  I’m going to ask for help from someone before I go to my own divine resources.  Going to divine requires humility, faith, and sometimes overcoming fear and doubt and I’m not interested in that right now.

“At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”
― Alan Alda

4.  Fun is not an option.  This is serious business!

You must have discipline to have fun. ~ Julia Child

“Serious art is born from serious play.”
― Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

This week I’m back on track with my novel writing and our online group is back in the saddle.  I prayed for help on all fronts and got it.  Love is there…with my creative muses, the amazing women and men in the group, and my family and friends.  It’s tempting to believe my writing comes from me, but in fact it comes through me from a magical place.  It’s tempting to believe I’m in this life on my own, but the truth is I’m supported every step of the way by seen and unseen forces. It’s tempting to believe the psychic housewives group success depends upon my management, but in fact it’s always divinely protected and guided and comprised of amazing members.

The truth is, many of us have earned our right to a state of grace by letting go and letting God.  There’s no reason for drama, over- assisting anyone, or being over- dependent on finite sources.  Letting go and letting God gets me over the goal line. And having a few good laughs along the way makes everything seem easier.

So, just to sum up, when a van pulls up with a unicorn, it may be time to just jump in and trust.

Blessings, Lorraine

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