My husband and I were out to dinner this weekend. He was telling me about his job interviews. I was relieved to hear he was not going to take the jobs he’d been considering. Not either of them. “Instead, I’d like to take a minimum of two months off,” he said.
I reached my hand across the table and took his. “I’m glad,” I said. “I’m so glad. You deserve it.”
His eyes grew red and welled with tears. “I’m tired,” he said. “I’m just so tired.” I held his hand, the moment passed, and I was about to ask him a question when my intuition interrupted. Not now, Polly. Now is not the time. So, I paused and said something else, since I had already opened my mouth. The moment continued smoothly, unspoiled by my initial intended query.
My husband and I continued our conversation, and then he brought up the topic I had wanted to ask him about, brought it up on his own, so that it was no longer a non sequitur but an organic flow in our give-and-take. I thanked my Higher Power for guiding me, because that is what my intuition is, wisdom from my Higher Power guiding my words.
This obedience to the divine is but one way I allow intimacy to blossom between me and another, by pausing, paying attention, and listening, putting my impulses and sometimes even urgency aside to wait a beat. Gentleness presides and hearts open rather than close like a sensitive flower.
This gentle guidance I received is available to all of us, keeping the sacred bond between two people pure just by paying attention.
“Every moment contains the free-flowing openness and warmth that characterize unlimited joy.”
–Pema Chodron, “Comfortable with Uncertainty”