may be inspired also to trust that there is help and guidance available to you, too, if you choose to believe and be watchful.
Tennyson wrote,
“Speak to Him thou for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet. Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”
I would love to hear your stories. You may e-mail me through the book’s website, www.SpiritIsTalking toYou.com
Sign
By Amanda Sargenti
“Change is the only constant in life,” is a famous saying I try to live by, and that helps me put things into perspective when I feel I need to color my life differently. When it’s time to make changes I often tend to favor the ripping off the band-aid technique. Since I tend to lose my equilibrium and inner harmony when assimilating changes in my life, why not change everything all at once? Sure, this temporary sense of insanity is by no means flattering to anybody, but at least I can give myself a break, knowing that I am trying to run a marathon on quicksand.
When living in Monterey, California, a few years back, I was flirting with the idea of changing my life one hundred percent. By this I mean: changing jobs – preferably careers, moving back down south, and ending a long relationship. Changing my immediate environment constituted not only leaving the majestic ocean and lusciously green, famous cypress trees but also an eclectic and genuine support system of individual souls.
I decided to drive to Los Angeles to visit my brother in the hope of buying some time before needing to make these long overdue life-altering decisions. After getting into my car and driving on a windy road towards the freeway, I began setting my intentions for this trip on which I was embarking. All of a sudden I remembered something I used to ritualistically do whenever I felt the blanket of confusion wrap around me. When the going gets tough, I ask God and the Universe for a sign–some sort of confirmation or guidance. Even though I usually enjoy a challenging and analytic, even cryptic thought process, I suspected my feelings of uncertainty to have clouded my vision and ability to filter in any insight. Paralleling the mind of a banana slug or maybe even an amoeba (with all due respect), I summoned my heart energy together and pleaded to God and the Universe to please send me a sign to work with, something that would help clarify the path I was meant to take. I remember advising the Universe to be gentle with me because I was in no state to dissect any abstract hints from the beyond. Understanding the importance of being specific when asking for a request, especially when involving the Universe and God’s help, I recall humbly asking that a “foolproof sign” would be granted to me. By this description, I hoped that I would be given a “sign” that did not need much interpretation or analyzing.
Just as soon as I set my intentions and verbalized my heart’s desire, a big truck coming out of what seemed left field, blended into my lane, forcing me to halt. Before I could even react to the dance my car was involved in with this truck, I started to laugh, close to hysterically. Much to my amazement and disbelief, there was one word written in large red, bold letters on the back of this truck that demanded my attention. Any ideas what this one word was? Of course…the word was no other than “SIGN.”
Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of life… “SIGN?” “Really??” “What sign, and for what?” I soon began to ponder. Well, once again, the Universe gave me exactly what I had asked for…nothing more, and nothing less. I had asked for a “simple and obvious sign,” one that did not need any interpretation.
Even though I did not have any clarification as to the decisions I needed to make, I did realize two things: how quickly God and the Universe respond to us when we are in need and reach out for help–if we listen and are receptive. The other reminder was for me to keep and strengthen my faith, to remind myself that although I don’t have (and probably never will have) all the pieces to the puzzle of my life, I ought to be confident and never forget that no matter what happens and despite what my perspective on life might be, I am guided and loved by God and the Universe. I was then; I am now, and I will always be. You, too, are loved by the same Universe and can feel guided and connected if you just listen and allow yourself to be molded by the natural flow of things.
I Am Here and All is Well
By Sandi Duncan
It was New Year’s Eve 1990, going into 1991, and I was on my way to a peace concert at St. John the Divine in New York City. It was freezing that night; the temperature was sub-zero and there was a biting wind. I was tempted not to go out, but Kathleen Battle and Odetta were singing. It was one of those concerts you just didn’t want to miss, so I was braving the elements to be there.
My partner and I grabbed a cab and were hurtling across a darkened and pot-hole ridden street when we hit a large bump in front of an old abandoned church. Being abruptly jarred into the present moment, I looked up and there, perched on the eaves of a decrepit church, was a beautiful white dove. It is unusual to see birds at night but particularly so on a freezing December evening in New York City. And its appearance was all the more startling, because it was the very symbol of peace and I was on my way to a peace concert. As I looked at this magnificent bird, I had the thought, “Maybe this year is about finding inner peace, and this dove is a reminder for me to focus on that in the coming year.”
All through the concert I kept seeing the image of that white dove on the darkened eaves and it continued to haunt me for weeks to come. Its message of finding inner peace also gnawed at me until finally, in February, I made a decision.
I was talking with a friend about being uncomfortable in my life. I’d just come back from a vacation in Florida and was already planning my April and October vacations. I lived for getting away from my life in New York, though I had a great job and salary, many friends and social activities, and I was singing in one of the top concert choirs in the city. But something was missing, and I couldn’t identify what that was.
My friend asked me to quickly tell her, without thinking about it, what I’d like to change or do in my life if work, my relationship and money weren’t a factor. My immediate response was, “I’d move to California,” to which she replied, “Then you must go.”
Two months later on April 8, 1991, I left New York City at 5:00 pm in my new Toyota Corolla wagon with my partner, two cats and all our plants. We arrived in Los Angeles on April 18th, found an apartment in Los Feliz and moved in within a week. We only knew three people in Los Angeles and neither of us was employed but … we were living in California!
In June, I was still unemployed and my money was running dangerously low. One day, while sitting parked in traffic on the 10 freeway, I began talking to God as I tend to do when I’m in my car. I asked, “God, was this move a big mistake because I don’t have a job and the money is almost gone?”
Out of nowhere a white dove appeared, circled my car three times and disappeared. It got my attention! I remembered that this year was about finding inner peace, and I was already where I wanted to be, so it was simply a matter of time before things turned around.
Within
