Plan, but trust the emergence

It takes a lot of planning to create a bridge.  It takes a lot of planning to get through life, as well.  And the more people involved, the more complex the process.

But sometimes, well, life just gets in the way of plans.  We've had a lot of that in our house, over the past 24 hours.  I had a presentation to give yesterday; something I was to be paid for as part of the offerings of our local arts community.  I spent some time planning it, and then had to call it off; I was just too dizzy, and exhausted as well, so I spent the afternoon sleeping. Which was a good decision, as it turns out -- I'm definitely feeling better this morning.

Our daughter was to come over this morning to join me on my Thursday morning coffee date, but she just called to say she needs to sleep in -- which will complicate things later in the day.  My husband was planning to join us as well, but he lost sleep last night, so he, too, will be sleeping in -- and then taking the car into Seattle, which will make things tricky for the Seattle daughter, who will need a car when she comes over.  And our other daughter has a doctor's appointment around the same time the Seattle daughter comes over... it's all a little confusing. 

But it will also all work out.  Which is kind of true across the board, with life.  Things get complicated and confusing; some things get dropped, plans change, people accommodate, and eventually everything works out.  Maybe not quite the way we planned it, but it will work out.  And things are infinitely easier if we can just learn to trust that. 

I keep thinking of the last slide from my last class of the term, which is all about acceptance.  It emerges out of Open Space Technology, and goes something like this:

Whoever shows up are the right people
Whenever it starts is the right time
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened, and
When it's over, it's over.  

... which seems to me to be all about trust -- trusting that what needs to emerge will emerge.  I don't actually think it works all that well for bridges.  But for meetings, and for daily life -- well, at least it's reassuring.  And if things aren't going quite the way you'd hoped,  OST has another great rule that may work equally well:

The Law of Two Feet

If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing: use your two feet and go someplace else.

I'm not sure I agree with this one; it goes against my instincts around loyalty and commitment, and seems a little New-Agey.  But it's certainly something to think about.  Does it flow inevitably out of that kind of acceptance?  I'm not sure...