Warning: Do not force doors...

This photo is blurry because it was taken on a moving train.

It was standing room only in the carriage, and I had a notebook out, scribbling some ideas down for a potential blog post. But the more I wrote, the less it seemed to make sense. I kept trying to fix things, forge things, join bits together, scrub parts out – trying to make it work.

And then, exasperated, I happened to look up and see this sticker:
“Warning: Do not force doors”
A serendipitous reminder that sometimes things just happen in their own time. (Or not).

So, what about you?
How do you often respond when things aren’t ‘working’?
Do you ever find yourself forcing the issue? (Maybe forcing a conversation or a relationship, pushing an agenda, insisting on a certain result… perhaps even trying to control the uncontrollable).

What’s your theory on why that might happen?
What might it protect you from? (Anxiety? Loss? Change?)
And what do you imagine could happen if you just left those ‘doors’ to their own timing?

How might it be to just let them open for you? (Or not). To see if and when that might occur. Maybe to save your energy for walking through them and into whatever awaits.

Or perhaps to cast your eyes around and see if any other doors – any other opportunities – are already opening for you instead…

Perhaps 'forcing' is not the only way.


(c) Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar 2010