Show Me A Sign
Photograph by Evie S.
Everyone loves a nod from the Universe. With trust, transformation and allowing, we can collect the signs and birth our new selves
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Who doesn’t love a sign…some nod from the Universe, God or the angels…some affirmation that we are not alone, we are on the right path — that things will be OK (especially these days, right)?
Some see feathers, hearts in nature, butterflies, angel formations in clouds — anything. When I see red cardinals, I like to believe it is my Dad saying hello. And this week we celebrated his birthday — the 5th without him. We also sort of came to the conclusion of a contentious election that can hopefully unveil a new season of healing and unification. We certainly have our work cut out for us — and will need all hands on deck.
So yes, we need signs — these love notes for the soul. There is something both playful and profound in connecting our hopes and desires with the natural world. It gives us a bit more wind beneath our wings.
Recently my friend Katie shared an experience that really left an imprint upon me. She had been asking for a sign — and she was also expecting it to come in a particular form (we can be bossy like that, wink).
The Universe must really have a good laugh at us sometimes as we try to control everything. Ha. But I digress.
Suddenly Katie started seeing snakes everywhere in her path (not what she was asking for btw) — and as many of you probably already know, snakes are a symbol of transformation. Let’s just say, she is definitely going through transformation in her life, so it wasn’t surprising. Later, when sharing these experiences with a friend she was also told that just as the snake sheds its skin, it represents the shedding of the old self and the stepping into the new.
Before we turn that into a nicely packaged little cliché, her friend also recounted one more thing: how the process of shedding sometimes requires that the snake rub up against hard things in order to let go of that old skin. Boom. In other words, transformation isn’t all about rainbows and unicorns. Like life, it can be painful and uncertain, fear-inducing and messy — the kind of things that make us want to run and hide and take cover (or worse yet, stay put). But we can’t stop there.
Don’t let the vulnerability stop you. It’s like childbirth and this incredible phenomena with women. Once new mothers are holding that miraculous baby in their arms, they seem to forget the pain of the birthing process and even go on to give birth again.
We are each birthing all the time — creative babies, ideas, inspirations, businesses, relationships, random acts of kindness, poems, music, prose — ourselves. We each have gifts that need our nurturing, that are calling to us to birth.
The world around us is always in a state of transformation and so are we. And let’s be clear, there is never a ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ time to birth your new self. I don’t believe we are meant to graduate and sit back, having checked off all the boxes in our lives. Nope. Life is a continuously wondrous opportunity to expand into more YOUness.
I’m not saying this has to be on a public stage. It can also be quiet and personal. Transformation is an inside job. It is the job of aligning with your intuition and clearing the blocks that interfere with anything standing in the way. Think of it as a spiritual chiropractic adjustment.
Where are you out of alignment in your life?
Pay attention to how you are feeling right now. Pay attention to what you are thinking, consuming, occupying your time with. Are these things feeding or depleting you?
What are you reading, watching, talking about? Do they inspire you to expand or constrict you in fear or unworthiness?
I’m going to say that you already know what you need — and that you already know your answers. I’m also going to challenge you to name it and claim it. Declare it and stare at it. And just in case you were considering ignoring it — you don’t have to listen to me, but your soul will continue to whisper and cry out to you. Because it loves you deeply. It wants the best for you. It wants you to want the best for you.
There have been times I tried that denial trick and those were the very times life just didn’t feel right. Wrongs don’t right. I was asleep and just going through the motions. That said, there are phases of waking up — and let’s face it, no one likes to be startled awake. It’s one thing to see what is wrong and another to know what steps to take.
But it’s also why I always say, When we shift, the world shifts with us.
So why not drive this thing? Why wait for the world to shift around you…why not get out ahead of life and shift things in the direction you want to go? Trust me, it will save you a lot of unnecessary grief.
And if this pandemic has shown us anything, it is that we can do things differently, we can reimagine what life looks like and things can even feel expansive within uncertainty. In other words, we can create new certainty.
Transformation is about allowing — allowing yourself to claim the things you want. Allowing yourself to march to the beat of your own drum and to live life on your own terms…even when those around you don’t ‘get it’.
Don’t be dissuaded by a little messiness. It might require a bit of maneuvering to wiggle out of old patterns, ways and relationships…but it may not. Regardless, keep expanding into new versions of yourself.
We have a lot of conditioning to break free from; the narrative that tells us things like, get in line, this is the way things are always done, etc. We are in very challenging, yet exciting times — we are being called to rescript a new conversation and narrative and given an opportunity to shed the old. But it first starts with us. Don’t waste time…it is your most precious commodity — your now moment, your dream, your life.
Give yourself permission to pick up the breadcrumbs you have left yourself along the way and seize the signs. They are there, sprinkled about awaiting your Best Self. Don’t walk past them.
““We don’t know what life will bring, so it is what we bring to life that matters.””
Are you waiting for a sign? Where are you being called to shed some old skin and step into a new one? Please share with us in the comments below.