I was on a plane recently with a woman who was very agitated, and she kept reacting to the people behind her, asking them not to talk so she could sleep. She kept making remarks that were demeaning to them, and she was acting as if she were sitting in first class rather than in coach. She was acting like a spoiled brat, yet I knew something was going on underneath the layers of anger. Rather than react to her reactions, I sent her silent blessings to wake up.

At one point, I asked her if she knew whether we were changing time zones, with a difference of one or two hours. She looked at me and began to sob deeply. She told me that her husband was having an affair, that she had just made this discovery, and that she was on her way to visit her mom. I said, “So you are having a spiritual relocation?” and she asked, “What does that mean?” I explained to her that a spiritual relocation occurs when we are taken completely off guard because we suddenly lose what we think we had. This loss could be a house, a job, or a relationship. We are shocked by it ending; however, many times we think it has just been taken from us when the truth is that we have not been in it for a long time. It takes Spirit to change it, for we are unwilling to change it ourselves. Thus it is a spiritual

relocation. These types of changes usually hurt the deepest yet reward us in the end the most.
She said, “I can see what you mean; my husband would never allow me to cry.” So I reminded her that one day she would be on the other side of the pain, and in the future, when a person would not “let” her cry, be herself, have a child, or have a pet, that would be her first clue to “let” that person alone! A Southerner would say, “Girl, let them alone and keep on walking.”

What spiritual relocations have you had in your own life? Were you wealthy at one time but now you are not? Did you think you were retired but now find that you cannot be, so you are off to work once again? Did you send your children out into the world only to discover that you are now raising your grandchildren? Did you have a nine-to-five job and the boss suddenly let you go without a clue? Did your spouse shock you by announcing that he or she is no longer happy? Were you totally surprised to hear that you are not healthy when you thought you were?

All these experiences are just a few of the spiritual relocations that have the potential to get us more aligned with who we are destined to be. The biggest challenge with a spiritual relocation is our inability to trust that it is for a greater design or it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. As we learn to trust the process, we begin to see from a different angle, and the event strengthens us rather than weakening us and making us weary. We ultimately see that even though we did not have the courage within ourselves to make the changes, the changes not only occurred, they also gave the gift of new changes which gave us our lives back. They opened our hearts up again.