Happy Full Moon lovely!
Can I share something dear to me with you?
I am a noticer. I pay attention.
It’s highly possible I may have come in this way. I do know that I have consciously cultivated this trait as my life in all its curiosity and surprises has unfolded. Noticing is one of my super powers.
When I am out in the world or in my home I pay attention. This paying attention is a deep and reverent practice that calms me. Assures me that I am not alone. Never fails to support a deeper connection to myself, to Source, to all that is.
I most especially drink in all of the sights and sounds when I am in Nature – and Nature, she is everywhere!
A dandelion blooming through a small crack on the side of the freeway as I sat in bumper to bumper traffic when I was sixteen has never been forgotten. Her message was powerful and lasting.
Small out of the ordinary details catch my attention – perhaps a small pile of stones that someone has stacked one on top of another with care atop a log. A piece of star glitter in the middle of the woods. A small statue of the Virgin Mary within the cavity of a madrone tree.
This practice supports me in being a clear witness to myself as well as others.
I notice with quiet empathy what I am telling myself – the stories, the tone of the words. I notice the judgments, the meanness, the love and caring. I pay attention to what I am feeling. Emotions. The sensations in my body.
I notice synchronicities.
All of this is information.
Messages that the Cosmos, the Universe, Nature is sharing with me all of the time. Helping me to confirm I am on my right path. Sharing and informing each of us 24/7 if we are willing to slow down, widen our gaze and begin to pay attention to what is unfolding right in this moment – rather than being continually caught in the endless wheel of mind chatter and external nonsense.
Noticing is a very useful tool to cultivate.
There have been times when the signs have been magical, miraculous and completely altered my reality, my view of the world.
I’d like to share one with you.
Several years ago I was at the beginning of some very big and ultimately wonderful changes in my life and things were coming apart – as they do.
An important and close relationships had recently and publicly gone sour, ending badly because of something I had said in innocence and love. It was now coming back to me that unkind and in my mind, untrue things were being said about me, which caused others to retreat as well. There was really no clean way to defend myself and I was deeply distressed that people believed the worst of me.
This brought great sadness and some shame as I loved this person deeply.
It was a very low point in my life.
One morning during this painful time, my thoughts consumed by the dissolution of these relationships, doubts about myself and my worth as a person, I was walking along the trail by the creek toward “my” bench. I noticed a blue plastic Easter egg tied to a tree limb. This highly unusual sight stopped me in my tracks. Hmmmmm.
Curiously I opened the egg and found inside a curled up piece of manila paper.
When I unrolled it and read the words I started to cry. Hard.
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Suess
I knew with every fiber of my being that this message was for me – straight from the beneficent Universe that is unconditional love.
The pain at the loss of my friendship was still there, however the knife-like twist of self recrimination and self doubt fell away, never to return.
Usually when I found something amazing along my path I would leave it for the next person to come along and notice. That morning I took the egg off the branch and brought it home with me.
For many years it hung from the lampshade on my desk to remind me to speak my truth. To show up in all my imperfect glory and shine unashamedly my unique radiant light. I still have it all of these years later tucked in a box of small treasures.
This morning I was inspired to share this story so I took the egg out of its home in the closet. As I unfurled the small piece of paper inside this precious orb and read the words once again I teared up.
They are every bit as applicable at this juncture of my life as they were then – simply in a new way – and right on time once again.
For some time I have been receiving messages – many of them – that it is time for me to allow myself to be seen in a bigger way. To step out more. To share myself and the wisdom I hold in new and different ways.
Not everyone will appreciate what I share. And that is so ok. Some will.
What matters most is that I step outside my own “ring of fire” and claim the freedom inherent within me to be all that I am. To express all that wants to express through me.
To keep noticing the signs.
Saying yes to the synchronicities.
Following the small magic. Inviting the miraculous.
Opening to receive it all.
