I have written
many times before about the "God winks" or "nudges from the universe". Whatever you believe as far as a higher power or universal energy - it's all good with me. I, for one, strongly believe in a power greater than me. And I feel the universe provides messages to help guide me to the path I am meant to be on. They usually start out subtly and then get progressively more obvious depending on how receptive (or oblivious) I am being. And since
my grandmother's passing, I can't help but feel like those nudges have been more frequent.
Our family has lots of changes in our world right now and I have been trying stay grounded through prayer, meditation and journaling. These tools seem to help me tap into the universe's guidance a little more. The messages I've been getting are centered around three themes:
1) Live by example (walk your talk). I got this message loud and clear when I opened the book I just finished ("
Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting" by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn) and this paragraph seemed to jump out of the book at me:
2) Act from a place of love rather than fear. My mind kept returning to this statement over and over during my morning meditation and through journaling. This is a BIG one for me.
3) Make the ordinary come alive. This has been something my heart is so drawn to and where I want to focus of my life to be through parenting, my artwork and as a wife. It doesn't take much. The simplicity of the concept is how I know it's true. And when I opened a message from our childcare provider yesterday, there was this excerpt from
The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents:
Since the beginning of this year, I've felt that these three themes have been paramount in the way I want to reframe my life and my business. Lately, I've been more aware of how these three concepts are so interconnected. I have let
fear hold me back. I kept getting stuck in the idea that I had to do something or be extraordinary or perfect to succeed in my business, as a parent and as a person. But all nudges and lessons and whispers have been pointing me to one clear answer -
Just take one small, ordinary, love-filled action toward your truths everyday.
Then take another and another.... and before you know it, you are embodying your truths, living your dreams and giving everyone else around you permission to do the same. And NONE of it has to be "amazing" or "extraordinary" or "epic" by the standards of the world around us. In fact, the absolute miracle in living this way is that the ordinary becomes the extraordinary just by noticing and taking those teeny-tiny actions with love. As William Martin stated so perfectly in the except above, "make the ordinary come alive...The extraordinary will take care of itself."
