Article April 4, 2005 Issue

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES

By Enid Gorman

FOR 17 YEARS HOME HAD BEEN A SPACIOUS APARTMENT ON THE BEAUTIFUL 13-acre grounds of a cathedral in New York City. My husband had richly rewarding work for the cathedral, and our daughter had sung in the cathedral's choir, attended its school, and grown up there. Although we had had inklings from time to time that we might have to leave our apartment, it came as a shock one day when my husband learned we needed to find a new home within months.

According to psychologists, moving is high on the list of stressful life experiences. In this case, the time pressure, an inflated housing market and downward economic cycle, coupled with my feelings of loss over leaving familiar places, family, and friends, preoccupied me. And on top of everything, I began to experience dizziness and loss of balance. Intuitively I felt this illness was related to my anxiety about the impending move.

I turned to prayer to quiet my physical and emotional turmoil. A Christian Science practitioner whom I had asked to pray with me assured me that there is nothing unsettled or unknown to God, who is divine Mind, the intelligence that is always communicating to us its creative ideas, fertile connections, inexhaustible resources, and innovative approaches. I felt encouraged to know that we could tap into this intelligence through prayer and we could act on it. And I became deeply conviced that because God's will for us is always good, this moving experience would be a positive step.