By Stacie Ysidro

It is often said to be careful what you wish for you just might get it…especially when spiritual growth is involved! Whatever you are praying for, the universe/God/Goddess will send you an opportunity to practice those principles. I find it funny that both people I discussed this with (prior to me writing this) used the example of patience. They start praying for patience and all of a sudden they get all these opportunities to practice patience- meaning that trying to get stuff done starts taking a long time, they get stuck in line, stuck behind slow cars, deal with bad drivers…..you get the picture.

I have been really trying to peel back the layers of releasing my belief and lack. I go deeper and deeper each time I dive into this false belief. Years ago I started praying and meditating on this concept. I could heal it for a little while or in an area or two of my life and then it would sneak back in through another area of my life or a more discreet way. I quickly realize that whatever it is I’m working on or a little bit stuck on, is yet again, another manifestation of that false belief in lack.

One of my releasing prayers that I started with is ‘I release my belief in lack, I released my need to worry, I am grateful God is the abundance I am”

I am grateful to say that over the years of repeating this to myself I have really gotten over the worrying aspect. That in and of itself is a massive accomplishment!

At this point in my life, the belief in lack is showing up a little bit differently than it had before. More subtle, a little more hidden, like I said peeling back those layers… if you go back into my writing you can see that I posted something I wrote a year previous about possibly Cleaning Out My Closet. This year I finally got to the realization that I was ready to start cleaning out my closets and going through my stuff because hanging onto it was reinforcing my false belief in lack. It took me a year to come to this realization! As I was exploring this belief further and listening to some spiritual talks I came upon another releasing prayer this one goes “I release my belief in lack, I  release all of my needs, I am grateful God is the wealth I am”. I started saying that one lately. It is interesting to me how another thing I have been meditating and praying about is not letting external people, places or things determine my joy and happiness; not allowing others to dictate my peace or mood. I identified with releasing all of my needs because essentially that is what that saying- I’m releasing all of these things that I’m basing my happiness,peace and self worth on. Note that wealth meaning- abundance of not only finances but love, peace, joy, compassion, gratitude, my relationships with others, a deeper connection with spirit, aligning my outside manifestation my internal being.

So, back to the story…I go on this trip to Boston and immediately my opportunity to practice spiritual principles goes into play. On a side note anytime you travel during Mercury retrograde is going to be an opportunity to practice some spiritual principles!

So one of the major things that happened was as I was working out I crushed the screen to my phone. It was the day I was checking out of the hotel and going to an Airbnb. I had all the information for my Airbnb on my phone, I had some work stuff going on I was trying to take care of, any password recovery was attached to that number, so pretty much my whole life is on my phone-  like everybody else.

I just started my workout when this phone incident occurred. I looked down at the phone took a deep breath and said, Interesting. I just stood there staring at it. Of course my mind started racing: Airbnb, clients, broken screen, money, blah blah blah. I sat there and observed my thoughts, took another deep breath and said “you know what the fact of the matter is that I’m at the gym and I’m working out. The phone screen is broken. I’m going to be where I’m at. I’m going to enjoy this workout. I’m going to take my time. I’m going to shower get ready for my day, then I’ll deal with the phone. I can find a screen fix it place or worse comes to worst, I can get a new phone”. I knew I had a backup phone and a tablet that I could use to search some things online around me and try to get into emails. So, in the grand scheme of things I was okay. I was just a little inconvenienced. I continued with my workout and actually had a good workout! My mind would still jump back in and replay my whole game plan but I continually reminded myself that it was okay everything is in Divine order and Divine time. I’m okay right here, right now just let go: surrender to what is. That gave me the opportunity to become fully present every time my mind started to wander. I felt a sense of relief in Surrender, that everything is not up to me, the world/universe does not need me to control anything except my own actions.

The gym was beautiful and had a Spa like atmosphere in the locker rooms. I took my time showering and getting ready for my day. I thought maybe I’m supposed to be walking around going to the phone place, you never who you are going to meet. Basically just meaning that everything is in Divine time and I knew that I was going to be okay no matter what. Every choice gets us to where we are, even small choices that seem insignificant.

I left my luggage with the Bellman and started on my way to find the T-Mobile store since it was close.  I get there and there’s a young kid in his mid-20s that just purchased a phone, and a couple of sales people. I start talking to the representatives at the store and they tell me about a place that could probably fix my screen, the young customer jumps up and says, “hey I’m going that way I’ll walk with you and show you where it is.” We made our way over to the screen repair shop. Unfortunately they did not have a screen for my phone, the young kid, Andrew, made a couple of phone calls to the other screen repair shops close by.  They didn’t have my phone screen either, but the store we were at said that they could order the screen and have it there the next day. I went ahead and told them to order it and left the phone there.

The long story short of that is I was still able to figure out how to get into my emails, I was still able to get into the Airbnb, they fixed my phone screen and I picked it up a day after it was ready because I was doing okay. Moral of that story is I survived without my main phone for three days! I was at peace, I was okay,  talk about Surrender, Acceptance and releasing some of my needs! I was practicing acceptance, patience and gratitude! I built Faith. When we take the time to see our challenges as opportunities for growth life takes on a new meaning. We have a purpose in what we are doing in the present moment. Really the present is all we have and our purpose is to do whatever it is we are doing in this moment. We have a choice to be in joy, love and gratitude. What will you choose now?