Can We Control Timing?

Posted by Nuzzling Muzzles

I mean is it possible to control timing on a metaphysical level?

The reason why I ask is because for me the timing of what happens to me is all messed up.  It's like feast or famine.  Either nothing is happening or everything is happening all at once and I'm overwhelmed.  It is physically and mentally impossible for me to handle everything when it happens all at once.  Yet this is a habit.  Whether it be God's habit or my karma or me attracting everything all at once, I just don't know, but I'd like it to stop.  I'd like to spread it all out over time, so that I can give each challenge its due attention.

Most days I feel like I have ADHD.  I start one project, get distracted by one thing or another, start a second project, completely forgetting about the first, on and on it goes until the day is over and I've got nothing to show for it, because I didn't complete a single project.  Other people are a problem too, because I expect to get my goal met in one phone call, and somehow other people always manage to turn that one phone call into multiple phone calls and a very time-consuming game of telephone tag.  Everything simple has to turn into a fiasco.

Sometimes I'll get bullheaded and say, "I'm not going to start any new projects until I get A and B done first."

So, I take on the first steps of A and B, which usually requires the assistance of someone else, and that someone else doesn't do his job or doesn't return my call for weeks.  I keep calling and leaving messages until I've wasted so much time on A and B, that I give up and start working on C and D.  Then, right when I'm in the middle of dealing with C and D, suddenly A and B return to haunt me and I find myself having to do A, B, C, and D all at the same time.

Examples:  I've been calling my hay farmer all week trying to get him to deliver a block of hay he said he would save for me.  I've also been calling this company that owes me money for a death benefit and leaving multiple messages, because twice now I have been told that the check is in the mail, and it didn't show up.  Now they are just ignoring me and not returning my calls.  These two issues of obtaining enough hay to feed my horses until next summer and collecting this last death benefit are critical to our survival, so I have nightmares about them and sometimes stay up all night worrying about them.

I'd been home pretty much all week, and then I decided to step outside for 30-seconds to pick up the mail.  As I was sorting through it on the way back to the house, I saw something that was from the company that owes me money, and I thought it was a check.  I tried to open it, but it was one of these pieces of mail that is like a puzzle to open.  You can't have your hands full.  So, I walked in the door, and wouldn't you know it, the hay farmer was just finishing leaving a message.  I ran to pick up the phone, but just missed him.  I immediately called back, and he didn't pick up, so I had to leave another message.  Now I am in waiting mode yet again, for him to get around to returning my call.  Worse yet, the piece of mail that delayed me and caused me to miss his call, wasn't even the check I've been waiting for, so ultimately, neither problem got resolved.  Ever since then I've been afraid to walk away from the phone.

I have a land line and a mobile phone, but out of habit I always give people my land line number, because I have it memorized.  Then I kick myself for doing that because I get stuck staying indoors while waiting for phone calls to be returned.  Even if I do give people my mobile number, I still forget to carry it with when I step outside for a few minutes to get the mail or feed the horses.  If I know I'm going to be gone a long time, I usually remember to take it with me, but then they call while I'm driving and I don't want to have to pull over to answer, because it's dangerous, and once you do pull over, the traffic is so bad that it's nearly impossible to merge back into traffic.

So, I waited all morning for either the hay farmer of the company that owes me money to return my calls and got nothing.  I decided to move on to a home improvement project, and phoned the handyman to set up an appointment.  Of course, he couldn't do it right then and told me he'd call me back tonight or tomorrow.  I stepped outside to put a letter in the mailbox to be picked up, walked in the door, and the phone was ringing.  I ran for it and picked up just before voicemail did, and it turned out to be the handyman, calling several hours earlier than when he said he would call me.  Of course, the best time for him to do his task was the worst time for me.  There is one morning a week in which I am booked and I absolutely refuse to juggle other appointments at the time.  It took some arguing, but I talked him into coming the next day.

I started getting things ready for his task, plus cleaning the kitchen, mopping the floors, cleaning the shower, etc., all things that I've been trying to do for weeks, but one thing after another got in the way.  No sooner did I finish mopping the floor, and my husband came home from work half a day early saying he's sick and going to bed. 

That ended my cleaning.  I had to be quiet and couldn't vacuum.  Since it's another feakin' unwanted three-day holiday weekend, I will have to wait three and a half days to pick up where I left off, because there's no point in cleaning house when there's a man in it.  I don't mop floors often, but I would swear that every time I do, my husband comes home from work early to take some sick leave.  Every time.  It's almost as if I have the thought, "I should clean the floors while no one is at home," and my husband instantly has the thought, "I should go home because I'm not feeling well."

It's just like when he sees me vacuuming and shampooing the carpet, he suddenly thinks it's a good time to mow the lawn and track in all the grass blades.  I have this saying that goes, "All I have to do is get busy and the universe will follow."

It's like my energy gets so high when I get busy that other people pick up on it, think of me, and decide that right then would be a good time to return my call, or come to visit, or ask me to do them a favor, etc.  Even the animals seem to pick up on my energy and decide that right when I'm super busy they need my attention for one thing or another.  Even inanimate objects pick up on my energy and find ways to interfere and prevent me from completing my tasks.  The dryer starts buzzing or the microwave beeps always at the most inappropriate times when I can't drop everything I'm doing to respond.

When I went outside to put some mail in the box to be picked up, I found a piece of broken glass on my property and picked that up.  I headed over to where we normally keep out trash can, but it was gone.  It was out by the street and needed to be brought back in.  I turned to go get the trash can and the dryer buzzer went off announcing that I need to get the latest load out before it wrinkles.  On and on it went, and my original goal was just to simply put an outgoing letter in the mailbox.

There's another thing that's been happening regarding bad timing that is very unfortunate, because I lose money when it happens.  You see, while trying to build up my clientele for my photography business, I've been volunteering one morning a week to do photo shoots to help find homes for homeless pets.  Without fail, a paying client always calls right when I'm in the middle of one of these volunteer shoots.  I have a rule that when I give someone a two-hour time slot for a portrait session, I do not let other people distract me or take up my time.  It's just good manners.

I have a hair stylist who allows other people to come into her cubicle and chat with her while I'm getting my hair done.  I find this to be rude, because that's my time slot to have her undivided attention.  I don't want to run my business that way.  I want to make each client feel like he or she is my only client for the time I have allotted for him or her, so if I'm in the middle of a photo shoot, I let voicemail take over.  Unfortunately, most new clients won't leave a message and never call back.  They end up calling some other photographer who is not as busy, I guess.  My point is that I am capable of answering my business phone all but one morning a week, so why does everyone have to call on that one morning when I can't answer?  It's bizarre.

Then there's lunch.  I don't think I have been able to eat an entire meal for lunch in weeks, because every time I prepare some food and sit down to eat, something happens to take me away from my food and next thing I know, two hours have passed, my food has gone bad or gotten cold or melted or whatever, and I'm feeling irritated.  The only good thing about it is that I'm losing weight because I never have the time to finish a meal. 

I just wish I could do one thing at a time.  I want to sit down and eat a meal without the dogs barking to go outside or come inside, without machines buzzing at me, without the phone or doorbell ringing, without something exploding, without having to go to the bathroom, without some time-sensitive task falling into my lap, etc.  I used to be able to eat meals without interruption.  I don't understand how or why everything had to change so drastically. 

So, I wonder, if perhaps through meditation, visualization, affirmations or prayer (which I can't do often because I keep getting interrupted) -- if one could somehow alter the timing of the universe so that she can do one thing at a time without interruptions or distractions.  I'm really growing tired of having day after day pass me by with very little to show for it, because I am unable to complete a single task.  I really want to be here now, but short of joining a monastery or hiding out in a cabin in the woods, I don't know if the world will cooperate in helping me to focus on just one thing at a time.