“It was amazing how you could get so far from where you’d planned, and yet find it was exactly were you needed to be.” ~Sarah Dessen

Dear Universe,

Nothing makes me happier than starting my day full of energy and taking the time to quietly and mindfully set my intentions.

I find the days when I can sit alone—for even a few moments—thinking about how I would like my day to go can make all the difference.

So the other day when I woke up feeling not all that energetic, and not all that motivated to do much, I made sure to take the time to be alone with my thoughts.

It’s so easy to give in to the blahs, but it feels so much better when you overcome them.

I meditated for a several minutes and I really did feel better.  I knew I was ready to get my day going and that it was going to be a positive, inspired one.

The first thing I needed to do though, was make an appointment for the following week.  What should have been a quick, simple, pleasant call, turned into a stressful conversation.  In short, I think the woman on the other end of the call hadn’t meditated and wasn’t in the same mindful place as me.

This happens all the time, of course, but I was frustrated!  Couldn’t she feel how hard I was trying to make my day a positive one?

Still, I let it go and went on with my plan for the day.

I hopped in my car and set out to a coffee shop I’d never been to before.  My intention was I would do some writing.  I felt the change of scenery would inspire me.

I arrived and ordered a honey bourbon latte—so delicious!

But it turned out this coffee shop—cute as it was—wasn’t an ideal place to sit and work.  There wasn’t much seating space and even when I scored a spot, there wasn’t a table.  I was still determined!  I would balance my laptop and my latte on my lap! I was out to get things done!

After being there for a while (and meeting two very nice patrons) I decided to call it quits.  I had gotten something done, but not nearly as much as I wanted.

As I walked to my car, I noticed the artsy movie theater across the street.  It had been years, but a friend and I would often go there and catch whatever Indy movie was playing.  Suddenly, it seemed like the perfect idea!

I would catch a movie, and leave feeling refreshed and ready to work again.  I was on vacation!  I needed to be spontaneous!

As luck would have it a movie was starting at 1:00.  It was 1:05.  I figured I still had time to buy a ticket and popcorn and grab a seat.  Perfect timing!

A few minutes later I was cozied up on one of the couches (yes! It has couches!) in the fairly empty theater.  I had never heard of the movie, but I recognized some actors, and besides I didn’t care!  The point was to escape.  Just as the plot began to connect in a more meaningful way, everything went dark: the movie had turned off.

Figuring it was a minor glitch, the other moviegoers and I stayed in place.

After a minute or so, the woman working at the theater came in to apologize.  Apparently the electric company was doing work on the entire block.  She didn’t know when the power would be fully restored.

I collected my things, collected a refund and headed back to my car.

I would just go home and try to get things done there.

As I drove, and wondered if I would ever see the rest of the film, I kept thinking how sometimes, even when we have the best of intentions, things simply won’t go as we plan or hope them to.

We can wish, intend, manifest, hope and pray for a certain outcome, but there will always be outside factors and other people to contend with.

All we can do is simply do our best.

We can’t let other people’s attitudes or perspectives make us feel negative.  We can’t let a delay in work become a dead-end.  And we can’t let power outages put us in the dark.

We have to keep on going, keep on striving and keep on hoping.  We have to be our own light.  (Tweet that!)

That afternoon, I never did quite pick up my pace.  It was just one of those days.

But it didn’t matter.  Not every day will go exactly as we plan, but every day will go as planned.

That’s what makes life interesting.

Looking back I can see how all my detours, mishaps and mistakes—or at least what I perceived to be detours, mishaps and mistakes—led me to where exactly I was meant to be, maybe not on my time, but in perfect time.

And that?  I wouldn’t trade for all the honey bourbon lattes in the world.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

With Gratitude,

A