You are constantly wanting, whether you are conscious of it or not. So, what do you want? And how do you go about communicating that clearly to the Universe?
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I had an experience yesterday that started me thinking about all this. Happily, my message to the Universe must have been pretty clear, I received support exactly when I needed it and even before.

Here’s what happened.

Wanting to add native shrubs to my shady, dry, back yard garden, I did some research into what might work and printed out a list.  I went to Suburban Lawn and Garden (my fav!) to look at possibilities.

The nursery is enormous, with a large outside area for shrubs and trees, and many, long, open greenhouses. I walked all the way through to the back of the outside area, checking all the shrubs. I found a variety of viburnum that was on my list. The tag on the shrub said that it needed a pollinator of a similar type to produce berries. It was not clear from the tag exactly what I needed to look for, and I thought I’d better find a staff person to ask. I looked up to find one just as a young woman with a red staff shirt drove up beside me in a golf cart. She stopped and asked if I needed help. I was delighted.

After some enlightening discussion about what I needed, she offered to carry the viburnum I’d found. Alternatively, she offered to give me a ride up front to get my own golf cart to drive. Not so sure about driving a golf cart I declined that generous offer. I was glad for her to carry the heavy shrub though. She then directed me to the greenhouse where other viburnums were kept.

In the greenhouse I found exactly what I was looking for, and hefted four, heavy shrubs onto the walkway. I wondered how I would get them all the way to the front payment area. A couple of customers,  husband and wife, joined me in the greenhouse as I was moving shrubs around. Outside the doorway I spied a golf cart. I thought the pair might be using it, but figured if they weren’t, I would. Of course, then I’d have to drive the golf cart. But really, how hard could it be? Right? They responded to my query saying it was theirs. Being kind souls, they promptly offered me and my shrubs a ride. My problem was solved. The woman, who I learned was a golfer as well as a gardener, drove me to where I could load my shrubs onto a shopping carriage. She was cheerful and kind about it and I was most grateful. May she be blessed with wonderful karma for that good deed!

From there I easily purchased the shrubs as well as a set of hand clippers, and brought them out to the car. As I was negotiating the unloading and stuffing of branchy shrubs into my car, a man offered to take my carriage. Then he handed me the clippers I’d left in the carriage saying, “Don’t forget these!” I had forgotten all about them as I was so focused on loading the plants. I would have driven off without them.

Such a delightful experience of support as soon as I knew I needed it, and even when I didn’t know I needed it!

Now imagine the nursery in this story is the Universe. The staff people are Spirit, there to run the nursery and support you. They drive around in their golf cart Merkabah’s, attending to their duties, making themselves available, just waiting for you to ask for help.

So, you have arrived in this Universe nursery and you are shopping for what it is that you desire. You have done your homework and you know basically what you want. You feel clarity about your deservingness and the appropriateness of what you want. You know the nursery and the staff are there to help you get it. You take anticipatory action.

What is anticipatory action?

Anticipatory action is action based on the certainty that you will achieve what you desire.

Back to the Universal nursery. You absolutely trust you will get what you want, but you’re not sure how or where to find it. You ask for support from Spirit and it is there almost before you ask the question. You have a direction which leads you to your next action step. Synchronicities occur, leading you on toward your objective. You reach a stumbling block and again ask for support. Help shows up in ways you might not have imagined. You continue on towards your goal taking the next obvious action steps. This time, guidance shows up without you even asking or knowing you need it, but it is exactly what you need. You keep taking action one step at a time,  following the opportunities presented by Spirit. You know you will achieve what you want.

This is anticipatory action, moving forward with what you want even before it appears in your life. You provide the ‘what.’ Spirit guides you to it. 

This is how the Universe works for you. The Universe, like the nursery, is staffed by willing Spirit in service. The garden the Universe supports is your life.

So, what is it that you want?  

Spirit is interested in the details of our lives because they matter on a spiritual level.

The details of our lives gradually add up to become the whole of our lives. The seconds become minutes become hours become days become years.

Every detail contributes to our soul growth not because of what we are doing but because of how we are doing it. Are we resenting the maintenance jobs which loom before us? Do they feel like drudgery? Would we much rather be doing something else? Are we mentally elsewhere as we clean the toilet? Do we keep putting off cleaning the scuff marks on the wall, changing out the worn and dirty vent covers, fixing that window? Or, do we appreciate and love the details of our lives? Do we make a prayer of vacuuming, painting, washing windows, ironing or doing the dishes? Do we love and appreciate what we are doing as we are doing it?

Why is this so important that we do this?

It can be challenging to remember this in the course of everyday life. Sometimes you just want to get a job done and get it over with so you can get on to what you want to be doing. But if you can remember to slow down and set your intention to make whatever you do spiritual practice, focus your attention into the present moment and evoke flow, it makes all the difference. You move from one plane of existence into a higher plane.

And you really feel it when you do. The job you are doing starts speaking to you (metaphorically speaking). Or perhaps it is Spirit or your Higher Self. Whoever it is that is communicating, you attune to what you are doing, you know what to do and how to get it done. You know the next step and then the next step after that. You are flowing in the current of energy which you evoked through your intention.

In fact, you are attuning and aligning with your inner self through the medium of the job that you are doing. So, you see how important this particular job is, this particular detail of your life. What you do becomes a pathway to connection and alignment with your Higher Self, with Spirit and with God.

How do we do this? We do this by setting our intention energetically before we take any action.

Let’s take cleaning as an example of a daily maintenance job, a detail of our lives. A job that is often put off or avoided or slogged through just to get it done, at least in my house.

Here are some ideas for approaching this in another way.

1. Start as a clear vessel before you clean. The energy you are holding as you clean is the energy you clean into your home.  If you are feeling upset or rushed, do what you need to do to bring yourself to center before you clean. Breathe deeply, meditate, tap on it with EFT, whatever you need to do.
2. What you keep in your mind as you clean, makes a difference. Listen to upbeat positive music. I like to put on flowing music or music that supports me to fully attune to the present moment and what it is that I am doing.
3. Approach what you are doing in a sacred manner, making it a moving meditation. Repeat a prayer or mantra. Play chants or sacred music.
4. Invite Spirit to support with what you’re doing, asking Spirit to be part of the creation. Intending it to be a sacred creation. Intending flow.
5. Inviting a specific God/Goddess/Master to support. Choose one with whom you resonate and whose energy is aligned with what you want to do.  For example, invite Nukua, Goddess of Order when you are cleaning, decluttering or organizing. She supports with clearing and releasing chaos. Thank the Goddess energy in the beginning and at the end and ask her to stay till you’re done. “Please see me through this, support me through this.” If you don’t know of a specific God/Goddess/Master by name, ask Spirit to send you the appropriate one.
6. Ask Spirit to send you an angel who specializes in what you are doing to support you.
7. Give intent that your actions may be of service.

You might have noticed there is a theme here. Ask Spirit, invite Spirit, intentionally partner with Spirit as you do what you do. As you intend this and take action, you become the hands of Spirit in our world, channeling the energy of love.

A good friend of mine, with whom I’ve shared much of my spiritual journey over these last many years, often greets life lessons from Spirit with a grimace, a laugh and the words, “It’s just another f*#?! growth opportunity!” It always makes me chuckle and nod my head in sympathetic agreement.
 
Life lessons are a constant because Spirit is the constant in our lives.
 
It is a constant, which paradoxically is everchanging. Perhaps that is the essence of the quote from Heraclitus, “The only constant in life is change.” Usually that quote is referred to as meaning that life is full of change so don’t get too attached to the way things are. Get with the program and be willing to allow things to change. And that is one way to deal with the inevitable change that happens.
 
Or, we could look at change as the movement of Spirit in our lives.
 
Mother Nature gives us all sorts of metaphors for this, flowing water that is never still, the constantly moving wind, one season shifting into the next. The energy of life, ever in motion, never still.
 
Change is growth, evolving, transforming, becoming, discovering itself. To stay the same is to stagnate, to die. Yet, even in death there is transformation, dissolution and change into something other than what was.
 
Change is Spirit moving in our lives, consistently offering us the opportunity to grow. Spirit offers us change in several ways.
 
Change can come from the outside. It can look like a new love relationship, a new job, a difficult relationship pushing you to make a change. It can look like a flooded basement. It can even look like a world-wide pandemic. ☹
 
Change can also come from the inside, which looks a little different. Change from the inside is more about feelings. Maybe you feel the urge to try something new. Maybe you feel a sense of excitement about a new project, or a different aspect of a project you are already working on. Maybe you feel increasingly uncomfortable about a situation you are in. You feel the need to make a change. Maybe a new idea comes to mind and sticks with you until you do something about it. This is Spirit communicating the need for change, growth and evolving. 
 
Often, we’ll receive the impetus for change on the inside first.
 
If we don’t act on that prompting, the need for change will come at us from the outside. We do tend to get comfortable in our ruts and Spirit will need to push us from several directions at once.
 
Recently, I’ve been getting the push for change from Spirit. And when I say Spirit, I mean from Spirit through my Higher Self. So, my Higher Self has been pushing for a change in my blog writing, and my website. I’ve been feeling increasingly uncomfortable and resistant to continuing the current format. I’ve been feeling a strong impetus to simplify it all. 
 
Paradoxically, I’ve been resisting that push to change. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?  Wrong, at least in this case.
 
Our Higher Selves know better than we do where the path of growth is, and even if it feels scary to us to venture out of our comfort envelopes, it is venturing that we must go.
 
I woke this morning to Peter’s urgent voice saying, “Holly! We have a major leak in the bathroom. It’s all over the floor and the basement is flooded. The floor and ceiling will have to be replaced.”
 
I was curled on my side, cozy in my blankets. My bed was warm, soft and so comfortable.  I was sorely tempted to just go back to sleep. I didn’t want to deal with floods at 6 AM. What a wonderful metaphor for that cozy comfort zone that lulls us back to sleep instead of waking up to the changes we need to make in our lives.
 
So, this is how Spirit is moving in my life this morning. The change is coming at me from the outside.  This tells me there is something I need to wake up to on the inside. There’s probably a leak somewhere in my energetic plumbing that’s flooding my foundations.
 
Peter called the plumber right away this morning and the plumber is downstairs now, fixing the faulty seal on the toilet that created the flood in our basement. Now all I need is a spiritual plumber that I can call to fix the faulty seal creating the leak in my energetic system!
 
​Spirit is offering me the opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and grow. The life lessons just keep on coming. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
After all, who doesn’t want another f*#?! growth opportunity?