The language of omens as a guide for doing things differently.

Last week, I went to breakfast with a new friend here in Colorado. On my walk over to meet up with her, I was reflecting on the upcoming series I'm facilitating called Doing Things Differently. A question present in my consciousness was – how can I speak to those who yearn to experience a fresh start yet are just … over it? Frozen over? Have already tried doing things differently only to end up in the same place, inside and out?

When I sat down with my friend, I asked her what brought her to Colorado. Her eyes lit up as she leaned in and shared an epic story that started over 10 years ago on a road trip from New York to California with a friend of hers. At the time of the road trip, she had no intention of moving but felt existentially depressed, and her friend gave her the book The Alchemist to read.

If you've never read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – I highly recommend it! It's a parable for courageously living from the heart. It's about a Spanish shepherd boy who goes on a quest to find his treasure, and he is instructed to follow the omens. A wise man tells him, “God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to follow the omens.”

So my friend started paying attention to the omens coming her way – to the signs delivered from the Divine directly to her. She arrived in Colorado and a series of undeniably intimate omens sparked her attention. A part of her wanted to shrug them off as coincidence. And yet – before she departed the Colorado border, she went on a solo hike through a canyon. She stopped in a forested patch and spotted an inscription of something on the tree that was so specific to her, she almost couldn't believe it. When she eventually returned to the car, still questioning the validity of the omens that had come her way – an animal she has always deeply connected with flew in front of the car.

Colorado had her attention – and so 10 years ago, she moved here and steadily experienced a fresh and empowering start from the inside out.

Hearing her share, I thought about the many omens that have led me to do things differently in my own life. After seven years of being single – and a global pandemic shutting the world down in 2020 – I didn't give up hope on the possibility of meeting my partner. I prayed every day and paid attention to the omens.

Like my friend, I also had zero intentions of moving when omens began appearing – my home in Topanga Canyon felt like a fairy sanctuary – I could walk right into Topanga State Park and see clients from my home. I loved it. Until… a few months into the pandemic, I started to notice a feeling of dread emerging while in my home. This particular feeling of dread tends to be my body's way of sending the message that a chapter is coming to an end. I could fight it and live with the dread - or, I could listen and see where it's guiding me. Over the years, I've steadily chosen the latter.

 “Oh no. My body is telling me to move,” I remember telling a friend at the time. “I feel like I'm being energetically kicked out of my home - and I have absolutely no clue where to go from here.”

I engaged in a solo Angelic Breath Healing meditation for guidance and received a vision of a wall of windows with tall trees that felt like Northern California…it seemed like a glimpse and glimmer of a place I was being guided to. A few weeks later, I went on a road trip to feel into different places in Northern California. I visited a friend in Nevada City, and it didn't feel right – the “omens” weren't present. When I was driving up to Mt. Shasta, however, I had a sparkly feeling. I remember voice-noting a friend, “I think I'm moving to Mt. Shasta.” When I arrived, a series of undeniable encouraging signs met me there…and the pieces continued to fall into place.

A few weeks later, I moved to Mt. Shasta with no expectation, attachment, or insight that moving from a town of 8 million people to one of 3,000 during a pandemic would guide me to my partner. And yet – at the same time, he was preparing to move to Mt. Shasta. We ended up moving to Mt. Shasta on the same day, and the rest is treasured history.

What omens have guided you in your life?

What signs and synchronicities have led you from an old way of being into the new – even if subtle?

When I left breakfast with my friend, I felt lit up and re-inspired by the unseen Divine web that weaves through our lives. I returned to the question I had been reflecting on my walk over: how can I speak to those who yearn to experience a fresh start yet are just … over it?

I realized my question had been answered during breakfast!

Attuning to omens, to Divine signs, can serve as a bridge from the habitual, familiar, and sometimes painful present to a new beginning. This doesn't mean there won't be challenges or obstacles to overcome and navigate – following omens takes courage.

You also don't have to blow up your life and make huge grandiose actions or moves to experience a new beginning. Sometimes the smallest, subtlest shifts can have a profound effect.

When I returned home from breakfast, I updated the first class in Doing Things Differently to include discerning omens as a part of the curriculum.

In this session, I'll share a process with you for attuning to and discerning omens in your own life. And over the coming weeks of the course, you'll be encouraged to notice omens in your own life while steadily experimenting with shifts that encourage positive change.

And here's the truth about Doing Things Differently:

You don't need to feel like you're on fire.

You don't need to be sure what changes to make yet.

You don't even need to feel optimistic or hopeful about the future.

All you need?  A willingness to be present to the Divine reaching for you.

From my perspective, a willingness to do things differently wholeheartedly applies to global movements for courageous peace in the midst of war and genocide. How many thousands of years of fighting, stealing, famine, killing, and heartbreak on all sides will it take to realize this karmic wheel is indeed a merry-go-round of death, destruction, heartache, and loss - over and over and over again?

I am deeply inspired by organizations like Standing Together - a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens in pursuit of peace, equality, and social justice. Standing Together envisions and organizes for a future where Palestinians and Israelis exist in harmony together. Standing Together is bravely standing for doing things differently in the midst of history repeating itself.

If you're currently feeling disheartened, uninspired, depressed, discouraged, or just OVER IT, please know that change is possible - and it can start by simply paying attention and experimenting with the next step.

Doing small things differently and following the omens, following the next “YES” you experience, makes a meaningful impact – sometimes even in a matter of days or weeks. You can also steadily take action on how you'd like to contribute to doing things differently within causes and movements that hold meaning for you and your community at large.

Doing Things Differently starts February 10th. I'd love to welcome you if the omens are calling. (Or if you'd like them to!)

Wherever this email finds you today, please remember:

“God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to follow the omens.”

Love,

Madeline