Searching for a parking space ..

Last weekend, on my way home from a seminar in Los Angeles, I decided to stopover in Miami for a tad of Christmas shopping – actually, more than a tad as my children had given me a 6-page list! This is the weekend before Thanksgiving, so the malls were a teeming mass of humanity seeking solace and cheer in retail nirvana. This message was transmitted to me loud and clear in every parking lot I entered – parking spaces in proximity to the stores were all immovably occupied, with each vehicle parked in a way that said “I am not leaving for now”. I spent a lot of time at each retail location searching for a space. I sometimes felt like I was at an amusement park, going around and around and around, with no resting spot in sight. I typically gave up after a few minutes and settled for a space some distance from my destination store.

On my final stop, tired and worn out from the endless choice and hype that is the American shopping experience, and having circled a parking lot for at least 5 minutes (or so it seems – time really moves slowly when you are looking for a parking space), I turned in front of the entrance to Target and said out loud: “Ok now, time to find a parking space”. And lo and behold, the INSTANT these words left my mouth, the rear park lights of a vehicle in the very next space lit up and the driver commenced his reverse! I slid into the space, jaws agape as I wondered yet again at how the Universe ALWAYS says “YES” – NOW!

As I recall this experience, I muse on what the difference was in me that caused instant manifestation of my desire! For in my parking lot circling during the day, I had definitely wanted a space. It was my intention to have a space close to the mall. Yet, it only actually occurred on the last occasion. What made the difference? Looking back, I recall the energy I placed into my statement, and the power I put into the word “NOW”. I realise that previously I had been looking, while on this occasion I was present to being in a parking space RIGHT NOW.

And I further wonder, what other instances are there when I am seeking rather than being fully present? These are the moments when I am in the process rather than in the manifestation. These are the moments when I am seeking rather than being. For if my intent is to seek, then, how can I find? If my intent is to seek, how can I be? Seeking implies something being lost, hidden, to be found. There is no need to seek – only to see and be. There was no need for me to seek a parking space, only to see it. There is no need to seek anything in my life – only to see it and be it.

Today, I AM, rather than I SEEK.