The Manna Principle: Letting Go of Control and Trusting

As Tiff and I were out on our early Friday morning drive up the canyon, we were talking about trusting that our good is always in the works of getting to us… and I was hit in the head with the Manna Principle.

Let me freshen your memory about manna (Jack style).

It goes like this…

There were a bunch of people wandering around in the desert with absolutely no idea where their next meal was coming from.

And every morning, this mysterious food would show up on the ground.

They called it manna.

Free breakfast. Delivered daily. No DoorDash fees.

The only catch? They were supposed to take what they needed for that day and trust that more would show up tomorrow.

Which, of course, went over beautifully with the people who needed a twelve-month emergency food supply and a spreadsheet to feel safe.

Because somebody inevitably thought, "Yeah, that's great, but what if tomorrow's delivery gets canceled?"

So they stocked up.

And by the next morning, their emergency stash had gone rotten and was crawling with worms.

Meanwhile, outside?

Fresh manna. Right on schedule.

🫢😬😂

Holy crap.

What a lesson.

Being an entrepreneur for 17 years has been a long walk.

I’ve tried so hard to gather the manna.

Trying to “make” things happen.

Pushing.

Struggling.

Controlling.

That way of doing things… never works.

In fact I miss out on the fun and the drives and the great things because I’m so busy working my ass off to MAKE-IT-HAPPEN.

Now those manna gathering folks couldn’t just sit around and do nothing at all, they had to get up and clean up and wash their stink off like the rest of us… but then once they had enough for today, those that stopped gathering could do other enjoyable things with the people they love, and not feel so damn frustrated all the time.

Through the years I’ve learned that when I’m forcefully gathering the manna (aka trying to MAKE things happen) I feel like crap.

When I’m hitting a wall, the very best thing I can do is to pull my hands off and go do something that feels good.

And sure enough… every time I do that, the answer or breakthrough appears.

Manna for all.

But here's where this gets interesting...

What if our need to control HOW things work out is actually a pattern?

What if somewhere along the way we learned that if we weren't pushing, worrying, planning, and holding everything together, things would fall apart?

And we've been doing it for so long we just call it being responsible.

But there's a difference between taking responsibility for your life and trying to control every damn outcome.

So here's a question…

What am I afraid will happen if I loosen my grip?

Because maybe trusting that things have a way of working out doesn't require knowing HOW they're going to work out.

Maybe it just requires doing what's ours to do today...

And putting down the damn manna basket. 😉

Love,
Jack

P.S. If you read this and thought "that's me, the one with the twelve-month stash," that grip has a name. Control is one of nine patterns the free Pattern Finder helps you see, along with what might be underneath it. Take it here: yourreturnpath.com/patternfinder