I really love the paradoxical nature of that saying—the juxtaposition between the opposing ideas of change and constancy. I am surprised, however, by how long it took for me to realize that this statement is not actually true. The only constant in life is change? That’s the only constant? Of course that’s not true. In addition to the sun rising in the east, the inevitability of death, and a few other things, there is another constant in life that is much greater than change. It is a constant that not only helps us weather change, but in many cases benefit from it.
The constant I am talking about is that Universal Intelligence we call God. But I will get back to that later. My initial goal is to explore the phenomenon of change and why we experience so much of it in life. And the reason I am interested in this topic is because it touches on an aspect of living life in the divine flow I didn’t notice for quite some time.
If you follow my teachings, you know that living life in the divine flow is about learning how to recognize and cooperate with the divine flow of life—a flow that is continually guiding you toward the effortless fulfillment of your heart’s desires. And by heart’s desires, I mean the desires of your soul or spirit. They are desires that are often greater and grander than anything your ego would normally allow you to have; desires that are always for the good of all—not just you; and desires that are often related to fulfilling your soul’s purpose for this lifetime. It is to those desires that you are continually being guided through your intuition, through the intuitive wisdom of others, and through divine signs and synchronicities.
Along the way, I have collected countless stories about people who have followed divine guidance and manifested their heart’s desires miraculously. But here’s what I am getting to: If you ask those people a few years later—or sometimes much sooner—how they are enjoying their dream come true, they will often say that they are no longer living that dream, or living it in the same way, because something changed.
The question is, why? If they were truly being divinely guided by God to something, why—in many cases—didn’t it last? There are many reasons for this, but here are six reasons why things might unexpectedly change after you fulfill a desire of the heart:
1. You allow yourself to take full credit for the fulfillment of your desire.
When your desire manifests, you might be tempted to exclaim, “I did it!” Oh, you did it, did you? It wasn’t God working in you, through you, and as you? It wasn’t because you followed divine guidance? It wasn’t due to the blessing of God’s goodness and grace? Whenever you allow your limited, self-serving ego to take back over, you begin to make terrible decisions—decisions that are not divinely guided, but are, instead, unguided or misguided. The result? You may end up undermining what you previously co-created with God.
I was recently reminded of this fact by a funny sign someone photographed and posted on Facebook. The sign said, “Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you are making terrible decisions!”
2. Things may change due to the ripple effect of decisions made by other people.
For example, when Carol and I desired to move from Dallas, Texas to Sedona, Arizona—so I could conduct talks and workshops in cities throughout the Southwest—we felt divinely supported every step of the way. We experienced amazing miracles—both major and minor—throughout the entire process, including being divinely guided to a house we were absolutely thrilled to rent.
But guess what? Only three years later something changed, and we had to move out of the house we so dearly loved. Why? To make a long story short, it was due to decisions made by the couple who owned our house, which left them overextended in real estate holdings. When the housing market crashed in 2008—the result of greedy choices and irresponsible actions made by people in the mortgage industry—they were among the first to lose their home, and they had to move into the house they had been renting to us.
Remember, in ways both seen and unseen, obvious and not obvious, we are all connected. When anyone makes a decision that is not divinely guided—a decision of the ego—it can have a ripple effect that affects others, both near and far.
3. Perhaps the manifestation of your dream was not really “in the flow” the entire way.
Perhaps at some point during the process you stopped taking the next divinely-directed step and began “forcing” your way forward—forcing your desire into beingness before its divine time, or before you grew to be the kind of person you needed to be to maintain or sustain the fulfillment of that desire for any length of time.
Remember, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. You must always seek divine guidance before taking any action. You must constantly pay attention to your intuition, listen to what others are saying, and watch for divine signs and synchronicities—all of which can help you discern whether any action you are contemplating taking is truly “in the flow” or not. If you continue to force things to happen, whatever you manifest will probably not last very long.
4. Sometimes the flow may lead you to the fulfillment of a desire, just so you will finally realize that your desire is not a true desire of the heart.
One of my favorite stories is about a woman I know who had a long-held desire to leave the large city where she had lived for many years, so she could run a combined café and bookstore in a small country town. After years of getting nowhere with her dream, one day everything just fell into place. With the kind ease you experience when you are “in the flow,” she was finally able to effortlessly fulfill her desire and open her shop.
However, she soon had a rude awakening. For one thing, she discovered that the work was much harder than she thought it would be. And worse, the people in this small town didn’t appreciate “outsiders” coming in, and they didn’t frequent her establishment enough to make it work out financially.
This woman eventually gave up on her dream and went back to the city in defeat. However, once there, she realized how much she actually liked living in the city. She loved all the social and cultural offerings it had to offer. And she was happy to once again be living close to her daughter and her friends. But best of all, with her newfound open-mindedness, she was finally receptive enough to be divinely led to a line of work that was much more fulfilling and rewarding—something that had nothing to do with books or cafés.
You see, sometimes the divine flow will help you fulfill a desire that is not right for you, just so you will finally be open to what is right for you.
Thus far, all of the reasons I have listed for why things change have been related to the ego part of your nature—to that part of you that is not open to divine guidance and inspiration. What follows are two reasons that have to do with the spiritual part of your nature:
5. After you have manifested a desire of the heart, your inner spirit will eventually want to manifest something else.
It is important to remember that as an individual expression of God—the Great Creator—you, too, are divinely creative at the core of your being. After you co-create something wonderful with God, your innate drive to create does not end.
Think about a painter. After a painter has completed a masterpiece, does the painter put down the brush and never paint again? Of course not! Eventually the painter will grab a blank canvas, pick up a brush, and begin to paint something new.
And so it is with you. No matter how fulfilling the manifestation of your dream may be, eventually your inner creative spirit will desire to create anew. That means you may no longer have a strong desire to actively maintain or sustain what you previously created, and thus, it is likely that—over time—something about it will change.
6. Change is essential for your spiritual growth.
You may not be consciously aware of it, but underneath your specific dreams, goals, and desires is an underlying desire to become more aware of your true, spiritual nature—to recognize your oneness with God’s Presence, and to realize your full potential as an individual expression of God, exhibiting God’s attributes of wisdom, creativity, and love.
Nothing gives you a better opportunity to grow in your spiritual awareness and understanding than the challenge of dealing with change. Without change there is little motivation for self-examination and inner exploration, and your soul’s journey may come to a standstill.
So, yes, for many reasons change in life is—and will be—constant. But thankfully, it is not the only constant. For God is also constant, which means that no matter what is shifting or changing in your life, you are constantly being guided by God and supported by God in manifesting another good—even a higher good.
Remember when I mentioned that Carol and I had to leave the house we loved after being in Sedona for only three years? Well, as the flow would have it, when we began to look for another house to rent, we were divinely guided to a house with the exact same floor plan in the exact same neighborhood! It was almost like not moving at all. There were only three differences: This house had an even better view of Sedona’s famous red rock formations; it featured a beautiful pond in the back; and the rent was $200 less per month!
But that’s not all. Because of a change in circumstances for the people who rented this house to us—and a change in our own circumstances—we now own that house! Talk about manifesting a higher good!
So again, yes, change in life is—and will be—constant. But thank God—literally—that change is not the only constant. God is also constant. God’s goodness is constant. God’s guidance is constant. God’s grace is constant. And God’s love is constant.
Steven
© 2019 by Steven Lane Taylor
www.rowrowrow.com
Steven Lane Taylor, LLC
