How to LOVE the drought
(Especially on the days when you are convinced your ship is never coming in)
Has your life ever felt a bit droughty? Dry? Parched? Or Lifeless? Perhaps your bank account has seen more than its share of prolonged periods of drought. Funny how this happens at the most inopportune times. Uncanny really. Maybe your career, your relationship or your sex life has a desert feel to it. Usually at one point we experience a drought in some area of our life. Sometimes it feels like all areas and like a thirsty plant, we go searching for water. Trouble is when we don’t find water right away we revert to our primal instinct otherwise known as: panic. This is not a happy place. But is it? Could it be?
Is there such a thing as a good time for a drought? Well, yes. And here’s why. Have you ever experienced the joy of a beautiful plant that you lovingly watered, caressed and cared for only to notice it’s leaves starting to droop, yellow and fall off? Have you ever loved a plant to death with too much water? If you have then you learned the hard way that plants do not thrive on over- watering because excessive watering leads to soggy roots and soggy roots are just a step away from rotting roots and you know how the story ends from here.
Ironically, the key to plant growth is in the not watering of it.
When you allow a plant to dry out an amazing thing happens. It’s roots wake up as if to say “hey, it is getting a little dry around here we better send out a search party”. And out the party goes. The roots of your plant begin to search and stretch outward seeking the nourishment it needs in order to grow into that beautiful show piece you love to have in your space. This is key. The plant knows when it needs water and of course, all plants are different. (for those of you who water every Thursday, you might want to reconsider. The basic rule is this: when the soil gets dry, give it a good watering. Then step away from the plant and let it do its thing.
What does all this biology have to do with your life? Everything of course. Every good metaphor should in fact. So here is how to apply the science of plants to your life. A drought is a good thing. Maybe even the best thing to promote growth in the very area that is looking parched from your perspective. Because when you are in a drought, chances are you are looking for nourishment. Stretching yourself. Evolving the very roots of who you are. Problem is, when we notice we are in this desert kind of place we run around asking “when is it ever going to rain?” We are convinced we will simply die if we don’t get some water and of course, the law of attraction works here too. With all this focusing on dying…you guessed it. We do. Metaphorically speaking. For some of us, real things die though. Our relationship ends. Our business goes under. Our health falls apart or the worst death of all, we lose faith in our ability to create the rain.
The solution is simple: love the drought.
If you are familiar with the work of Byron Katie, then you have heard the expression “loving what is” but what do you do when “what is” is really terrible? What if “what is” is painful, stressful or down right awful? Very drought-like. The first good news is to know that all those are judgements from your ego-fear-monger-mind that is ready and willing to take you out of the game. The prosperity game which you are meant to win. The whole game is rigged in fact. Did you know that we are ALL meant to win at the prosperity game? It’s true. We just assumed if some of us were winning, it automatically means that the other of us must be on the losing team. Not true. God rigged it so we all get to win and how we do that is stop judging that we think we are losing. For in the moment we think that, we actually start to lose. This is very depressing for God who went to all that trouble of stacking the deck so that wouldn’t happen but our zealous for over-thinking things constantly gets in the way. If this is you, consider this your official invitation to stop doing that. Today.
And start loving the drought.
The painful, awful, terrible, wonderful drought. The drought is always a sign that growth is at hand not death. It is the perfect back drop in which to practise the most liberating strategy we can offer to getting what you want. Especially if what you want is rain. And that strategy is called SURRENDER.
And it looks like this.
Step 1: Write down everything you are believing to be true about your situation. Do not stop writing until you have at least 2 pages of ego-mind-drought-hating ranting. Do not be alarmed if you are mortified by what you write. It is not you. It is your ego to speak the better.
Step 2: Now, cross out everything that is not true. This is also a good time to reach for Byron Katie’s “the work” and ask yourself these two questions whenever you are not sure if you should cross it out:
Is that true?
Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
Chances are fairly high it isn’t. By the time you are done, you likely will not have a sentence left unscathed by your red pen. This is a good thing. It means you have successfully sifted yourself and amongst all the silt, dirt and gunk, you have found some gold. The truth nuggets left behind. And those nuggets might even be, nothing you wrote was true. You are now ready for step 3.
Step 3: Love what is. Stop resisting the drought. Give up all your fears, doubts, worries and judgements that drought is “bad” and assign the responsibility of the weather back to its rightful owner: God. Say hello to your new director of marketing, healing and prosperity. The drought is a sign that it’s time for you to step down from that position. And while you are hanging out in the desert, put on your sun glasses, feel the warm dry, wind on your face and trust that the nourishment your roots are seeking is on its way.
Because it is only when we stop aching, begging, crying for rain that it rains.
When we learn to love the drought.
