Ring Out The Old

Recently I ordered a spiffy new cell phone with a fabulously low billing rate. The promotion was so popular, I was told, that there would be a 30-90 day wait for the phone. Okay, I can wait; all these years of meditation should have taught me a little patience, at least.
Eleven days later I tried to make a call from my current cell phone, and got the message, "Your phone has a verification problem. Please call the business office." God bless the phone company, I thought (not the first time).
I called the business office and the representative told me they had no clue why my phone wouldn't access. My bill was paid, and their diagnostic showed no problem. I talked to several reps, still no help. God bless the phone company.
When I arrived home I found a FedEx box sitting at my doorstep with my new phone. I plugged it in, and voila! it worked like a charm. The phone company had disconnected my old phone because it had transferred service to my new one.
In the wake of my euphoria, I recognized a powerful lesson in this experience: If the old thing isn't working any more, it will not do you any good to fight to reinstate it or keep it alive. If you have completed a career phase, level of relationship, or stage of life, the Big Phone Company in the Sky (really within you) has hooked your energy up to the next thing, and any effort to resuscitate the old will only be frustrating and wasted. Instead, focus your attention on where you are now or where you want to be going, and the object of your vision will show up without struggle or strain.
One of the basic principles of manifestation is the Law of Attraction, which denotes that everything that shows up in your life (or leaves it) comes or goes in response to the energy you are vibrating. When you are truly open and ready to receive your heart's desire, it must appear. And if you are not ready, no amount of manipulating can make it happen. So you can quit fighting to get rid of what you don't want or force what you do want; instead, line up your energy so you are thinking and feeling in harmony with your vision, and the universe will deliver it in the most amazing ways.
I know many people who participate in various dating services, place personal ads, and meet many potential mates. Many of them find something wrong with just about everyone they date, and are still looking. I also know a man who lived as a hermit in the remote Halawa valley on the sleepy Hawaiian island of Molokai. To get to John's house you had to travel hours over a long and winding road, park your car on the property of a backcountry family who for $3 would protect your car (from them), and then hike into a secluded electricity-less area so far off the grid, the zip code was 0. All kinds of dropouts lived in that jungle, some naked, many stoned, and most yet to emerge from the 60's.
Then one day John was visited by his buddy Hank, and Hank's traveling companion Cheryl. Long story short: John and Cheryl fell in love, moved back to civilization, got married, and have a pretty nice life together. No video dating, no personals, no "I have a friend I'd like you to meet." Just the Law of Attraction. When you are ready to receive what you want, it will find you.
Many people in my seminars report that they want to let go of the old but and don't know what to do until the new arrives. They feel frightened at dropping their security blanket (even though it is stale, boring, or painful) without seeing how their new security will come.
The only real security comes from following Spirit. Imagine you are a trapeze artist who got so tired of swinging back and forth on the old swing that you said, "I have to get off of this; anything has to be better than this." So you let go and you suddenly find yourself flying through the air (usually without the greatest of ease). In the distance you see another trapeze (your new and better life) maybe even with someone with outstretched hands coming toward you. But it may take a little while till you are able to fully grasp those hands. Just hang in there, remember your vision, trust, and have fun while you are flying.
We are living in a time when life is moving so rapidly that we can't afford to cling to old rocks. There is far greater wisdom (and joy) in opening to the adventure and making a game of flowing with the stream. It really is quite a beautiful ride.
Sometimes it seems that life is not working, but it is. The universe is intelligent, and our game is to remember that perfection is always unfolding, even when we do not see it in a cloudy moment. God bless the phone company.
Moral stories can improve your moral values.
--Alan Cohen