When you don't get what you want....

I just did a tarot reading for a woman who told me that during her twenties she had been obsessed with this man,  and had prayed many times to God to let him marry her.   She had lost her faith when it didn't happen.  

Now,  ten years later,  she bumps into an old mutual friend who told her that he is in jail for some white collar crime and had defrauded his in-laws so his kids and wife have no safety net at all. 

She wanted to know if I thought God had known this. 

And I said,  sometimes when you don't get what you want,  you have to ask yourself,  was the universe holding you back or protecting you?  Either way,  it's an interesting question.

(I'm a believer in God,  but not in organized religion,  which I find very male centric and makes rules to help the powerful.) 

The Universe Hates Me

A while ago I did a reading for a young man who was clearly angry.  As he spoke about his frustrations at work, and how the corporate structure felt like it was strangling him, he burst out and said ‘I think God hates me.’  I looked at him surprised. ‘Okay, not God, but I think the universe hates me.’ 

‘Why do you think that?’  I asked.

‘Because every day at work, it feels like I am pushing against this enormous wind. Every day is so hard.’

And I said straight away, without even thinking, ‘I think you are wrong.  I think God loves you;  I think you are walking in the wrong direction.’

It was so clear to me that he was temperamentally unsuited to his corporate job, and would have been far happier to take some risks, be entrepreneurial and work for himself.  When we talked about it further he said he felt so relieved and happy, and that he would go and look for other options.

Sometimes we chose a path, because it’s safe, or highly coveted, or everyone is doing it... But if the universe it pushing against us so strongly, it’s worth asking if we are going in the right direction,  and perhaps there is another path that would suit us better.