My faith deepened. I was pushed so far out of my comfort zone that the only thing I could do was surrender. This was 2020. A year when metaphorically we were meant to see clearer, instead we were left to investigate our lives in an entirely different manner. All things that no longer served us were meant to melt away—or burn away for that matter—only to return to be delivered as our destiny.
For me, my career in comedy came to an abrupt halt. Leading in to 2020 I traveled around the world a few times a month to either perform comedy or give speeches, however this year grounded me and left me with little to do professionally. For everything I had lost (and it was quite significant), I found something deeper and more profound replaced it. My destiny looked far different than I had ever imagined.
The Universe, God, Source, the Matrix (whatever you feel comfortable calling the essence of Creation) had presented me with a once in a lifetime shift in consciousness that I simply wouldn’t have opted for had it not been forced upon me. What I had discovered was that sometimes we need to be pushed out of our nest of comfort in order to align with a Higher Purpose. When this happens all of our plans dissolve before our very eyes and we are left to create a new reality.
With no roadmap or playbook of how to move forward the only action we can take is to do whatever is in front of us as accurately as possible and keep making the next “right” step. This is surrender in action. This is what is called “Mannay”. Mannay is when we have complete faith in the Divine and allow whatever is necessary to unfold without resistance. We are asked to “go with the flow” and understand no matter how much we may fight it—whatever will be will be. This is surrender and 2020 has delivered a master’s course in surrender.
For Adi and me, the year started for us in Florida. I was giving a corporate speech there and Adi came with me. At that time, our plans for the year looked very much like years past. I would continue speaking and doing my live comedy shows and she would continue teaching yoga and meditation. I remember walking with Adi through the beautiful grounds of the JW Marriott in Orlando and I said to her, “I am going to turn everything over to God this year and ask that I be shown how I can serve my fellow man more. Let They Will Be Done” I said confidently to Adi as we walked.
I truly had no idea how powerful this prayer is. Within days, Covid 19 gripped the world and shuttled activity all around the globe. Both my theaters closed, speeches and travel evaporated, and I was left with a whole lot of time on my hands. The first few idle weeks I did what many did, and I resisted. Through a chorus of “whys” and “what the hell is going on” I was thrown so far off balance that I didn’t really know how to behave. I didn’t know exactly what to do so I did the only thing I could do to be proactive; I threw myself deeper into my morning Sadhana and I added an evening Sadhana to give me strength through these ever-changing times.
As my practiced enhanced, I knew the only way to truly make the best of my idle time was to get creative. I decided to write a book that Adi and my sister Patti had been asking me to write about Adi’s and my first date in Paris, France. It was a story my sister told me would make a great book and movie one day. I had the time. I had the creative energy to do it. I sat down and I wrote. It was cathartic. It healed me in so many ways and within six weeks my latest memoir arrived on Amazon for the world to see: We’ll Always Have Paris. One Man’s Journey Through War, Love and Family.
After writing the book I took a long look around at the world as summer was approaching and I realized the world had changed in ways that would never return to what once was. My prayer of Let Thy Will Be Done had activated a change in my life that wasn’t anywhere near what I had planned for the year. I realized live shows weren’t coming back and nor were any speaking engagements in the ensuing months. The lease on our place in Fort Worth was coming to an end and we decided to do something completely out of character, seizing an opportunity we otherwise would not have taken.
At the end of 2019 Adi asked me hypothetically, “Would you ever consider moving to a beach for three months and taking the time to write a book if you knew that everything at the show would be handled and no one would really need you back here?”
The question seemed pretty outrageous to me because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how that would occur. I answered, almost in jest, “Sure. I would do that.”
“Let Thy Will Be Done!”
Adi’s family has two homes in Galveston and one of the homes is used as a rental as an airbnb. Covid crushed the travel business and with it, rentals in beach communities dried up. With a house sitting empty and a lease coming to an end, Adi and I decided to move to Galveston for four months to try to collect ourselves and make a plan moving forward.
We got up each morning and did our Sadhana in the early morning hours and then went to the beach to drink in the healing energy of the ocean. We cooked at home and made fires in the backyard. Adi did as much teaching yoga online as she could, and I continued writing. I got a divine message to write an eBook called The 12 Universal Laws. Within weeks I had finished the book. We were at the beach. I was writing. Adi was teaching online. We were adapting.
Four months passed and we had moved into the fall season. Both Adi and I knew it was time to come back to Dallas/Fort Worth and once again one of the homes on Adi’s family’s property had been evacuated by a renter. The family home in Mansfield on 5 Acres was calling us back home. Adi and I had often talked about creating an Ancestral Healing Center on the property where we could invite experts to come to the land to teach people a healthier way to live, returning to our roots, that included walking among the trees, enjoying fires with family and friends, eating nutrient rich foods, practicing yoga and meditation and disconnecting from the world of television and social media. We talked of creating an oasis in the city where people could come to reunite with their own personal truth.
Adi calls the land Terra (an homage to Gone with the Wind) which means earth. When people step on Terra they return to their roots and remember that not only are they already whole but most importantly; We Are One With God. This was a dream. Oftentimes when I considered it, I thought it was an impossible dream. How could this possibly happen, I would ask myself privately.
Let Thy Will Be Done.
Adi and I recently moved back onto the land. We arrived on Terra and although I have no idea how this healing center will manifest, I know that my only job right now is to tend to the land. I spend my days burning excess brush as Adi and I are doing everything we can in this moment to make this the most beautiful place on earth. Each morning during our 4 am Sadhana we sit among the trees and we send out energetic messages to the Light Workers of the world that there is a place in Mansfield, Texas where people come to heal and remember once again that they are whole. This place is our new home and all of the Spiritual Warriors of the world are welcome to come here to teach and remind the world that we are all One With God. The place is called Terra in Mansfield, Texas. This is the Next Right Step.
Let Thy Will Be Done.
Sat Nam!