I waited for the truck…
The Universe wants to be noticed…and heard. Problem is, we aren’t always listening.
Did you ever get a gut feeling to do something and not do it? Have you ever had an intuitive nudge that was telling you something was going to happen, something that when it did happen, you chalked up to coincidence?
The tiny nudges, those gut feelings, are something I have felt since I was a child. They’re also something I’ve repressed, denied and chalked up to coincidence. Grossly ignoring these signals over the years has caused me pain and compounded my life with what could have been avoidable challenges.
There’s a saying that goes, “at first the Universe will tickle you with a feather, then it will throw a brick at you…you don’t want to wait for the truck.”
I waited for the truck and it took getting hit by the truck for me to wake up and listen.
The Feathers & Bricks
One New Year’s Eve, when I was a young child, we were getting ready to leave my Aunt’s house and head home when I felt overcome with anxiety – like something was wrong, but nothing had happened. It was just a feeling of unease. When we got home that night, our house had been broken into and robbed.
On Halloween, during my sophomore year of college, I really wanted to make my intramural soccer game, but I had Botany lab. That night our teacher, who was notorious for always ending class on the dot and not a minute sooner, let us go early. I could hardly believe it – I could actually make the second half of the game. Something felt off about going, but I ignored that feeling because I wanted to play. No more than two minutes after being put in, I collided with a guy going for the ball and broke the C2 vertebrae in my neck.
Three summer’s ago, I was driving my car, my old Jeep, to take a fitness class in Center City when I ended up in a fender bender. I was beyond pissed I had to miss class and get my car to the mechanic. I was told had I kept driving that car much longer, there was a chance it could have been much worse. Basically I was driving a ticking time bomb.
You would think at this point – and, mind you, these are just the more major signals from the Universe (I’m not even touching on all the smaller ones) – I would have been like, “OK Universe. I see you boo. I hear you. I’m listening.” Nope.
The biggest kick in the ass – the most devastating blow of all – happened less than 5 months ago. A situation I was in was very challenging and causing me a great deal of pain. But, I ignored my pain and continued to put myself in this particular climate because of the classes I loved to teach, the community I built, my tribe.
But this time the Universe wasn’t letting me off with a slap of the wrist. It needed me to wake up and listen in a BIG way and within 24 hours I lost everything: the place I called home, my classes, my tribe, my status and ultimately myself.
There’s a saying that goes, “at first the Universe will tickle you with a feather, then it will throw a brick at you…you don’t want to wait for the truck.”
I waited for the truck.
When we ignore the nudges, those subtilties will turn into challenges and when we ignore the challenges, that’s where we suffer the most.
Life is always trying to nudge us forward. It’s always trying to help us unleash the highest and best versions of ourselves. And it’s always speaking to us – especially when we’re heading towards the edge.
4 Signals From The Universe You Need To Look For
That Gut Feeling
You know the one. The one where you know, but don’t know “how” you know. You simply do. And you feel it in your gut.
Gut feelings are sometimes referred to as intuition. They’re moments where we experience strong judgements about people, situations or things – and they come out of seemingly nowhere.
Michael Gershon, author of “The Second Brain”, says the gut is like a second brain using signals from the brain to send out feelings in the gut. He explains that the gut has millions of nerve cells and through those nerve endings it’s almost as if the gut has a “mind of its own”.
The next time you get a “gut feeling”, take a moment to look a little deeper into it rather than write it off as absurd.
Roadblocks
Life will nudge us much like a GPS so that we can be in alignment with our highest good. But, at the end of the day we’re still the captains of the ship, plotting the logical course we think, not feel, is best for us.
Roadblocks are life’s way of saying, “Hey, try something else…” Now, this doesn’t mean to leave your course entirely and go, “Well, looks like I’m never going to be able to change careers and do this new thing”. It simply means the strategy or method you are using isn’t working and the Universe wants you to try something else.
Roadblocks are redirections to a better course.
When you find yourself confronted with a challenge – the job search isn’t going how you planned, you didn’t get the promotion you thought you would, or your dates keep cancelling on you – take a step back and ask, “What am I doing that is leading me here?”
In any situation in our lives, we are the single common dominator and when we find ourselves staring at a roadblock (note: this is different than a dead-end), it’s worth investigating why that is and deciding how we can best redirect our energy and efforts.
The Cul-de-Sac
The word Cul-de-Sac in French literally means “dead end” and there’s a huge difference between a roadblock and a dead-end. One is just super inconvenient and frustrating and the other leads to nowhere.
The Cul-de-Sac is the place we find ourselves when we’ve ignored the signs for too long. These are the bricks from the Universe. We ignore the nudge to leave our place of work and two months later get laid off. We ignore the nudges to end a toxic relationship and end up having our heart broken.
While the Cul-de-Sac is a place none of us want to be, at some point we’ll find our way there and the best thing we can do when we arrive in such a place is to offer ourselves compassion. It’s easy in these moments to “shoulda-coulda-woulda” all over ourselves. But if we knew better – like if we were really listening – we would have done better. We just weren’t listening and so the Cul-de-Sac, while painful, is also a pivotal point in our journey, signaling growth from where we are.
When you find yourself in a dead-end, breathe into your heart and offer compassion towards yourself. You’re doing the best you can and now you know better. This is the point you get to change course and learn to use the cues from the Universe to guide you.
Pain
Whether it’s physical, emotional or spiritual, pain is a BIG signal from the Universe. It’s the truck. Pain lets us know we’re out of alignment in a major way and that we’ve missed the subtler cues and the slightly louder cues that the Universe was trying to send us earlier. Pain reminds us there is something we aren’t dealing with, some unresolved action we need to take in our lives so that the energy and flow of life can return.
When you find yourself experiencing pain (and we’re not talking the you-need-to-see-your-doctor-kind-of-pain), ask yourself, “What have I been ignoring? What is going on in my life that I need to deal with?”
The more we resist, the more painful it is. The more we ignore our gut, distrust our intuition – the more we miss the signs and signals along the way – the more devastating the course correction will be when it happens.
The Universe is always talking…but, are you listening?
What is your gut telling you now that you’ve been ignoring? Are you in a relationship you’ve outgrown but won’t leave? Are you in a job you hate but you’re too afraid to go? Are you having a health crisis you’re ignoring?
This week, get quiet. Listen. Tune in. Just don’t wait for the truck.
xo