Let Your True North Find You!

Usually we are told or conditioned to take active, even bold when needed, steps to realize our dreams or to claim our happiness. We value our sense of agency although sometimes this may lead to our feeling like it is me (or, you) against the world, like somehow we need to wrest happiness from a harsh and forbidding world. But this week I have had an experience that shows me the value of letting my next step in growth and development, I’ll call it my True North, find me! 

Over a year ago I took action based on a sudden impulse; I wrote a letter addressing an agency in the hometown I was preparing to move back to.  Without exposing details here on a dear opportunity still only in its infancy, this agency had helped me with some writing projects in the past, and I thanked them and let them know I was returning to town so that if there was anything I might be able to do that they might need (like PT work for them), I would welcome that. In truth an underlying reason for reaching out to this agency in my beloved home town was because I was looking for a way to give something back to the community (and this agency) that had given me so much and helped to launch my life career on many levels.

I heard back maybe a month or so later from staff at the agency. The director I had addressed was not in town due to COVID19 and no, they did not need any help. Okay, I thought, at least it had been worth the effort to reach out based on following my inner nudge.

I relocated and have now been back in my hometown for nearly a year. I love it here. It is the same quaint village yet more developed now around a performing arts center (that I ushered for during its first two seasons while I was finishing college as an undergraduate). The wider location is expansive and dynamic; there is no end of opportunities for adventures to explore.  I continue to teach online, which I also love and am grateful for being able to do ‘remotely,’ now from my beloved hometown.

Then three days ago I get this call from a local phone number. It is the director of the agency I had written to over a year ago!  He had returned from living in Canada through the worst of the pandemic and he found my letter while looking through some papers that had accumulated at his office. He is perfectly delightful; we talked quite awhile, realizing we share many points of intersection in our interests and experiences.  In fact next week we are set to meet for coffee to continue the conversation and there are possibly some opportunities for me to be of service and also for some of my current writing projects to be reviewed in new ways.

All of this has been so unexpected, at least consciously. If you’ll remember I had a dream last week about moving into a more expansive or roomy (and more Rumi, I associated) state of consciousness. Then just two days later or so, this phone call from ‘out of the blue’ opens new possibilities for realizing some of my deepest life ambitions for service and for writing. These are two ways through which I aim to serve life, to embrace and give gratitude to all life with love, perhaps in the sort of vein of gold Rumi bespeaks in his remarkable poem I included last time (“Word Fog”).

So we shall see wherever this might lead, but I am grateful for the opening to greater possible connections!

images are from pixabay.com

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Better Endings Story Seed

Let Your True North Find You!

How about you? Have there been moments in your life, or are you seeking such, whereby you relaxed and found that your next step reached out to YOU?  I invite you to contemplate, dream, or journal about that as a Better Endings exercise.

FOR A LIFE OF ABUNDANCE: Follow Your Heart

Envision a future of life fulfillment and abundance that you are already “living INTO,” Now! PLease go ahead, I invite you and I entreat you to take some time out from whatever busi-ness you are about right now; to close your eyes and dreamily, freely:

I M A G I N E 

So just think of it: Life IS a Bowl of Cherries. Okay then, what does YOUR “bowl of cherries” contain in your imagined dream of life fulfillment? What relationships or conditions, behaviors, activities, locations, etecetera comprise  the cherries filling your bowl of abundance in the parallel reality of your future dream come true?

I encourage you to contemplate, journal, walk and muse, paint or write a haiku or poem about your life of abundance.

And as always, I welcome your response in any form of sharing.

Now then also, would you need to make any specific sorts of changes or tweaks to your current life course in order to bring this abundance about? Consider how you might make such adjustments as simply and effectively as possible from your present vantage point.

My dear sister whom I am visiting has a refrigerator magnet that reads: THERE IS NO PLAN: FOLLOW YOUR HEART! Yet what if, after all, following your heart truly will fulfill your “plan”, even if you didn’t know you have one? The question remains the same by either viewpoint: How to ‘truly’ follow your Heart?

Some speak of nudges, others pay attention to their dreams and “intuitions;” still others stay centered on their current course, neither expecting nor desiring change. And you know, it’s all good: Life is Good, no matter what.

Myself, though, I enjoy creating or composing my life actively as I go along. I love adventure and creating some measure of change and flexibility to bring about variety as that “spice of life.” I enjoy the Present Moment of Nowness, yet I also enjoy musing inwardly and reflecting lightly on the Past, and I enjoy looking forward to creating a future of my own choice and design. All of that involves listening to the Heart and ALLOWING the Moment to unfold yet being an active, mindful participant.

The Here and Now is multidimensional, resplendent, full of potentials and possibilities! So take a peek into the byways of your Heart’s own rhythm and pulse, and… Follow!

Follow Your Positive Inner Nudges

As a follow up from Tuesday’s post inviting you to state a question for which you would like to receive a sign, I applied this tool myself this week to amazing results. I wrote out my question, stating that I would be looking for either a clear Yes or No as a sign.  I then typed the question itself into the Google search bar and guess what came up? A website that offers a Yes/No Oracle! I posed the question there and got the answer I would have hoped for; then I cross-checked with a second question and the site gave an appropriate answer to that. I then typed another related question into the Google search bar and it brought up new information I have needed that further corroborated the “oracle” responses. This is a set of questions I have been pondering about for several months, so it is certainly interesting how this exercise unfolded. Sometimes all we have to do is Ask so that spirit or the universe can meet us halfway. Whatever happens, I received what I needed Now in order to proceed with a major project with greater confidence.

On a related note, in addition to signs that can appear to answer your questions, what of the inner nudges you receive? Have you experienced a time when you received an inner nudge but didn’t follow it? How might things have turned out differently if you had? Even the slightest nudge to take a new way home from work or to say something meaningful to a loved one could bring unanticipated, positive results. I once had a nudge while returning from a road trip that told me to go back to a spot I had just passed where a dead rabbit was in the road. It was a strong nudge, so I followed it. When I got there, a couple was parked. They were taking pictures of the scenic beauty. They watched as I carefully removed the rabbit’s body off from the road. Then as I drove on again, guess what? I witnessed a bear cub crossing the road right in front of my car; a rare beauty! I had asked inwardly before the trip to see a bear. So following this nudge put me in precisely the right place at the right time. Only seconds would have made a difference.

What has happened for you when you followed a clear nudge? Of course we can all think of times when a split second decision could be the difference of meeting a spouse, or not, or something of that magnitude.

Can you distinguish between a clear inner nudge and just a random impulse? How can you best tune in to recognize your nudges? Any form of regular contemplative practice can help you to remain aware and attentive to your inner nudges. You can develop a knack for sensing which ones to follow. I think it helps to add non-habitual activities to your life when you can. Julia Cameron’s THE ARTIST’S WAY offers a great tool that she calls “weekly artist’s dates.” She invites you to practice doing something different and fun at least once a week. Exercising fresh pathways can open your creative wellspring to gush to the surface so you can remain open and flexible when those creative nudges arise.

I welcome your insights and stories!