Trust the Signs

How often do you find yourself questioning your next step in life?  If you are on the “right” path?  What direction you are “supposed” to take?  
 
I believe that it is in the conditioning of humans to doubt, question, and ignore the signs which may be presenting themselves regularly.  To operate from a place of auto-pilot and to miss those signs which are our stepping stones of life. 
 
It is easy to bypass that inner voice of knowing and the Divine signs of guidance if we are, A. living in a state of fear, overwhelm, and disconnect from the present moment, and, B. If we do not trust…trust ourselves and trust the unfolding of life. 
 
Absolutely no judgment here!  Every single person on the planet has had moments in time of life in which they have found themselves in this space….doubted and questioned their direction and scrambled to find it.  I can certainly relate, holding 2 hands high on this one!
 
Yet, the more I have softened into myself, learned to melt into the moments, stopped resisting every twisty turn, and learned to TRUST MYSELF, first and foremost, the signs appear and I follow them. 

I breathe them in and they have enhanced my inner navigation system.
 
I have a palpable and somatic sense of my connection to this Divine guidance, trust the journey and process, and my eyes and heart are open to the affirmative signs along the way.
 
Cultivating the capacity to not only slow down and take in the messages and signs that we may receive in our lives, but also to trust them is a potent way of living. 
 
As those of you who have been reading my newsletters know, I just wrapped up the first in person women’s retreat that I have been able to offer since early 2020.  Powerful does not even begin to describe our experience.  While I do not need to share all of the details in this moment I will share that this entire endeavor was born out of my trust in the signs that life shows me. 
 
Pulling off this retreat, in the middle of a global pandemic, felt nothing short of miraculous. There were, of course (literal) detours, road bumps, and also very clear signs supporting this event, which ended up being the medicine that these women needed in ways I could only have imagined. 

Much more to share about that in due time, rather I would love to use this weeks newsletter to share some of the divine intervention, signs, and to offer the reminder that there are signs everywhere if we can stop and take them in. 
 
For example, one woman and her daughter flew in from Florida not ever having met me but having been searching for a retreat.  She stumbled upon my website offering a free meditation, figured why not and signed up for my newsletter. Three days later I announced the retreat at the exact center that she had been eyeing online.  Divine intervention. 
 
The day before I was slated to leave and just 2 days before these women were to descend at the Molina Center, the main highway that the majority of the women were taking was closed due to a catastrophic mud slide.  This act set into motion a major detour for many of us and one that I actually questioned whether or not we should collectively do or just cancel the event.
 
Of course, I did not cancel it and rather we all meandered our way through the mountains and valleys and towns of Colorado, some of us went North, some of us went South….all of us made it there with an extension of hours but an overwhelming gratitude in our hearts for the beauty of this state we live in. 

No one was upset.  Everyone was excited and inspired by what they had seen and experienced. I believe that this intervention actually enhanced our time away and created an even deeper appreciation for the retreat on the whole.  We had definitely pushed through to get there! 
 
When I departed my house that morning, after days of packing and organizing I stopped in the front of my house, which I never do, yet my intuition guided me to. 

What I witnessed were three hummingbirds dancing and buzzing around my flowers.  I have never seen hummingbirds in my garden before. I sat in my car, smiling, taking it in, and feeling the deep affirmation that I was taking the right steps on this journey and that this retreat would, indeed, serve the whole in potent ways. 
 
I looked up what the meaning of a hummingbird sighting was after driving away and discovered that hummingbirds are the symbol of resilience, of joy, of healing, of good luck, of positive energy.  Over the course of the retreat, these little hummingbirds found us quite often, both while we were outside on the land, and also when we were inside doing our practices they would dance around the windows.
 
So, how do we do this?  What can we do to cultivate this trust in the signs that life is presenting to us every day, in small and subtle ways as well as larger and more pronounced ways? 

• SLOW DOWN: It sounds so simple, yet when we are on auto pilot there is not the breath and space to receive these signs. So, slow everything down in your days (breathe deeply into your belly…lengthen your exhales out your mouth and soften your jaw, slow down your movements, move through your days with mindfulness in every interaction and activity, etc)

• LOOK AROUND/SHIFT YOUR VISION: We can often find ourselves in tunnel vision, literally only looking straight ahead…If we can begin to expand our scope of vision, looking all around us, the potential of seeing these Divine messages increases.

• CREATE MOMENTS OF PAUSE: Literally stop moving! Drop your energy down into your hips if you are seated, your legs if you are standing, open your eyes wide, and feel your breath. Feel the present moment – feel your aliveness – breathe in and breathe out – take in the world around you.

• CULTIVATE A CONSISTENT GRATITUDE PRACTICE: Gratitude truly shifts everything and opens us up to realms of being that are just not possible when we are stuck in the muck of life. I have found that saying a simple “thank you” throughout my days for the small gestures and nudges that I receive, have opened up the possibility for grander signs to appear. Simple, yet so powerful.

 
There are endless signs being given to us every day, if we can slow down, open our eyes, drop into our bodies and hearts, and listen to our own intuition.

What I am consistently reminded of is that we cannot force life to happen.

We cannot force life to unfold, events to occur, relationships to work, ourselves to feel a certain way, etc etc.

There must be a yielding, a softening, an opening while simultaneously cultivating that level of balance in our efforts.

From that sweet spot, the signs will appear and we can learn to trust them.