Tales for Our Times-What a Gigantic Black Spider and a Sunflower Taught Me (Part 2)

Your Divine Nature expresses itself most eloquently through images.  Through the process of Interactive Imagery you dialog with your Divine Nature and discover whatever it is that you need to know.

I am in awe of this process and of the beauty and power of the messages my clients receive. They often feel to me like modern mythology.

In Tales for Our Times I offer these narratives to you. May you find the wisdom in these Tales both inspiring and beneficial.

What a Gigantic Black Spider and a Sunflower Taught Me about
Success and Failure – Part 2

This is the second installment of what I learned about success and failure when I turned to my inner wisdom. Deeply discouraged when a hoped for contract went to someone else, I sought support and a fresh perspective.

In the last blog you learned about failure from a gigantic black Spider.  Now it’s time to learn about success.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

The Sunflower that appears to teach me about success is as big as the Spider.  Bright yellow petals are arrayed around a broad center, hundreds of seeds exquisitely arranged in an elegant, geometric pattern.  I feel deeply moved by the beauty and radiance of this Sunflower.

The Sunflower tells me, “The first thing you need to learn about success is that every success holds within it the seeds for countless other successes.”  That seems clear.  Any of those hundreds of small seeds can grow into a Sunflower as splendid as the one before me.

My mood, however, is not focused on success.  I ask the Sunflower, “What about all of the seeds that fall on rocky soil and never have the chance to grow, or are eaten by rabbits when they are just little shoots or wither and die because they get no water?”

The Sunflower replies, “That is destiny. The lack of success is not failure.  The lack of success is destiny.”

I feel reassured by this very different way of looking at the disappointment of unfulfilled expectations.  It helps me to take much less personally the loss of my hoped for contract.   I can see that there are a variety factors that influence the outcome of any venture, many of which are entirely out of my control.

This disappointment had come, however, on the tail of a long string of disappointments.  It was my season of discontent.  I ask the Sunflower, “What about during the wintertime?  You are all beautiful and radiant right now, but what about the winter when there are no sunflowers around to shine?”

The Sunflower responds, “The next thing you need to learn about success is that success is cyclical.  There will be times when the outcome of success will be wildly apparent, like the glorious blossoms of the Sunflower.’

‘There will be other times when success is held alive in the tiny seed, barely noticeable, or it is growing out of sight under the ground.  In these times success is no less real, it is merely less evident.  It is important to trust in the presence of success even if it is not apparent.”

The Sunflower then told me, “There is one other thing you need to know about success.  Any time you begin a project of any kind that you care about, something that you are willing to work at and nurture, it holds within it the potential for success.  At the very moment that you plant the sunflower seed, the potential for the beautiful realization of the glorious flower is initiated.”

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

What you can do

When things do not work out as you had hoped, resist the temptation to view it as a failure.  Feelings of failure, as we discussed in the last blog, just lead to helplessness, despair and paralysis.

Instead, step back and evaluate the situation.  Note what you can learn from what has happened and readjust your plan of action.

Trust that if you care enough about your project and you keep working at it, eventually it can lead to success.  In the meantime, make sure you enjoy the small pleasures that come from working at something that really matters to you.
P.S. Loving thanks to my subscribers. If you enjoyed this post and are not yet subscribed, enter your email address below and click ‘Subscribe’. You will receive each new post in your email box. To share on Facebook and Twitter, simply click below. Thanks!