timing

“Timing is everything.” Coined by William Shakespeare, I find these words to be very accurate most days. The flow of life is precariously balanced on timing. Crossing paths with the right person and feeling souls connect; a compliment that comforts, as self-worth was dwindling at that moment; an opportunity that arrives just as you were considering ‘what next’; green lights all the way.

This journey moves much more smoothly if timing is respected and detours & hiccups are perceived as opportunities and luck. I’ve found that there must be space allotted for ponderment – pondering that results in wonderment – and without reflective pauses we are rushing past every single chance to align our lives.

Every January, I re-read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Some years I’m gripped by it and some I find it a chore, but my reflection mid-book this year reminds me that when life feels good, reading the book is a spring breeze scented with flowers and promise, and when life is wrought with heaviness, reading the book feels like a chore that I want to avoid, but know I must complete.

I grappled around for a bookmark this weekend and found this tiny book. A little compilation of poetry and thoughts that a friend’s co-worker bashfully gave to me six months prior. I was leaving for a month to support my parents, as they navigated some stuff, and was shopping the art store for some happy creative supplies to fuel my joy whilst away. I was struggling that day and they sensed it, digging this little photocopied morsel of goodness out of their bag and graciously gifting it to me with apologies for its informal state.

I cried a little at that moment.

A perfect stranger felt my mood, recognized my struggle and opted to bare their soul at that very moment and share my burden. A few words were exchanged and off I went. I have seen it from time to time on my travels and as the year ended. I found it again in the new year and began reading it as a companion to The Alchemist. Very different authors and extremely different styles, but both tethered to the Soul of the World. Very much how I have found myself this last decade. Like minds find each other when the timing is right. I’m thankful for that comfort as I go out into the world again today.

Happy New Year. May 2026 deliver clarity and conformation via timing and may you be wide eyed and aware of the deliveries so that your life will feel comforting and abundant, no matter its state.