“…when you’re on the right path, the universe winks and nods at you from time to time, to let you know. Once you start noticing these little cosmic cairns, once you understand that you’re on a path at all, you’ll begin to see them everywhere.”
From an article on Synchronicity Psycology Today
I’ve had times when my world is a muddle, guidance will appear in unexpected ways – something I read, hear in an interview, a conversation with a stranger. These incidents usually occur in clusters when I have let go of fear and lean into trust. Often I’ve experienced them while traveling alone and am literally lost .
Such a state happened to me recently when I accepted my knee injury, framing it in a more positive light. Before a concert, my friends and I were out in NE Portland at a little eatery. The server, a young man took one look at me on my crutches and my imposing exoskeleton of a knee brace and said, “ Oh, it’s going to get better. You are going to get through this.” I said “really? You’ve had an injury like this before?” He proceeded to tell me about the broken femur and broken wrist he sustained while snowboarding a few years back. I was almost in tears. His words were like balm for my soul.
Later as one of my friends pushed me in my wheelchair in a very crowded line to get into the concert venue (James Taylor and Jackson Brown!) A woman with her husband said to me “Sweetie, you go right ahead of us.” I replied, “You make me feel like a queen!” The woman replied, “ You are a queen. Own it, honey!” By the way, it was a faboulous concert- but more on that in another post.
The following day, a dear friend I hadn’t heard from called me out of the blue and gave me a good dose of Jewish mothering wrapped up in a pep talk. , “Listen, you are going to get through this. You are a strong woman and you will find your way.” Then she sent me her comprehensive favorite movie list for streaming.
Now to some this would be a series of unrleated events but not so to me. I had to let go in order to open myself to what I needed- a good dose of mothering and encouragement to get me unstuck. Call it God, call it the universe that helps one along when they are lost. Sometimes the cairns appear in the mist to mark the way forward.
Grey Zone
There is a space
Between endings and beginnings
A quiet valley
Full of swirling grey mist
All sense of direction
Lost
Be still
In this protected place
Rather than stumble in confusion
Let clarity present itself.
Listen
When the compass needle turns within
And the fog rises slowly
This is the time of departure
Cairns marking the way on the immerging landscape
The start of a new journey
poem and artwork by the author
The Emperor Penguins of Antarctica group up in the thousands during the breeding season. Once their chicks are juveniles, the adult penguins depart for open water to feed and bring home nutrition. They have this knack, when they’ve returned from their foraging expeditions, of locating their young among a throng of look-alikes, solely by recognizing their chick’s call in a cacophony of penguin noise. Parent penguins have a knack for listening.
By Alanna Pass 