There is a difference between pushing, pushing, pushing, possibly against a wall, and putting intent out there and letting the universe do the rest. Our son, who will go for his road test later this month, had been looking for a well-priced used car (stick shift being a must) since the fall. At every for-sale-vehicle by the roadside we stopped - price too high, no stick, bad condition. Local dealerships were too high priced, no appropriate ads in the papers. He became frustrated, but I kept saying that there was no rush since he didn't even have his license yet, and once the time came closer we could make a more concerted effort at finding him a car.

Well, through a comedy of unexpected circumstances we ended up going to his great-uncle's for Christmas, and lo and behold - we pulled up and found a car for sale in his driveway. Our son jumped out in excitement, looked at the car and the sign in disbelief, announced it was a stick shift and cost exactly what he had intended to spend.

Voilà or That Was Easy!

Also look back to an earlier post on the Taoist principle of wu wei.