In Shanghai there are these small foreign import corner stores that carry all kinds of random food from around the world. But the things they carry are constantly shifting, in fact, most items are never regularly in stock. They’re here today, gone tomorrow and never to be seen again. Cookies from Holland, coffee beans from Indonesia, seaweed potato chips from Japan – you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes it is surprising, sometimes disappointing. You have no choice in what you’ll buy, but conversely that lack of selection leads to greater happiness. Without abundant options, you learn to live with what’s sitting on the shelf.

Day to day life is a lot like those shelves.

Your circumstances today are whatever is on that shelf, and your willingness to engage with the way things are, not as you feel they should be is like choosing to shop at the store.

The universe carries something in stock, and perhaps you line up to receive whatever is on the shelf that day. You fantasize about what it could possibly be- what it is today may bring. Maybe an old favorite, something you haven’t seen in a while? Your mouth waters at the thought of some nostalgia waiting in that package or can.

Somedays the shelf holds ingredients for a meal that won’t be fully baked for years, something that will take an interminably long time to come to fruition. Not this stuff again, I’ve already got too much of it! When will I finally have all the pieces I need to finish what I’ve started? You may feel impatient and frustrated, wishing that something different will be on the shelf next time you come by.

Other days the universe unexpectedly gives you something small and sweet. A little laugh, a little joke, a small joy. Nothing of any long-term substance, just a nice treat to enjoy for the day and be on your way.

With all that pulls us away from life, it is easy to be absent. The most difficult choice we often make is to be present, making time to daily return to the shop and notice what’s there. This is crucial though; you must receive what is on the shelves each day. True, you could show up occasionally and may walk away with some fine items. But consistency is what prevents your kitchen cupboards from becoming bare.

You may not like what the universe is giving to you today. Perhaps it’s an odd smelling root, or some obscure spice you have no idea how to use. You may be seduced into stopping off elsewhere on your way home from the tiny shop. Some larger chain store or shopping mall that caters to your needs. You may focus on other things for a while or say it doesn’t matter anyhow.

You may be tempted to remember days gone by, other items from another era. Remember that time they had a whole case of German Witbier on sale or the random weekend in July when the store had Berry flavored Captain Crunch?

Well that’s not on the shelf today, cilantro and onion flavored kettle chips are. You’re going to have to find a way to cook magic from coriander.

Dear reader, if you’re really being totally honest with yourself – what is up there on the shelf for you today?

Of course, you can choose to ignore all that.

We walk the earth as Gods, with all resources available to us. If you don’t like what the world has up on the shelf take your business elsewhere! Leave that tiny shop and go find a place that carries something you will buy.

After all, those small stores are nothing like the mega-chains surrounding us now. Bazaars like Walmart, Costco, Whole Foods, Meijer - carrying goods and spices from the four corners of the world. Supercenters so impressive in their size and availability of stuff, don’t be surprised if you spontaneously burst into tears upon arrival from the world at large.

Everything is at your fingertips in these Babylonian marketplaces.

My soul is no longer constrained by the tiny shop. I don’t have to settle for what’s sitting on the shelf. There’s aisles and aisles of things to see and do and create, wonders and spectacle to behold and consume.

The universe is carrying something in stock today, the raw materials for what is being formed in the present, but it’s not what I ordered, I’m returning it immediately. I want cash back but if you won’t give it to me I’ll take in-store credit instead, so I can get back out there to the aisles and find what I’m looking for and next time don’t make me come up here! You need to intuit my flavor profile and put what I need in my cart without me having to ask for it! I need my stuff that’s exactly the way I like it, show me that thing that I like with a slightly different angle, play me that song I dig with notes changed slightly so I can hear, don’t you dare tell me this is all you have today! There must be more than this, go look in the back and see if there’s something there and while you’re at it I want to speak with management because I simply refuse to believe that this is the only thing on the shelf, there must be more than this!!

You get exactly what you think you want rather than celebrating what you actually have and in your freedom there is misery.

Learn to Live with What's Sitting on the Shelf.