Someone once told me that when my phone would ding with a text, it was an “affirmative” from the Universe; a resounding “Yes!” that could be applied to questions, declarations or simple guidance seeking:
Should I splurge on a yummy organic treat for my body temple? Ding!
I accept that I just don’t need that kind of energy in my vibe right now, and that’s okay. Ding!
*Tests a line of poetry.* Ding!
At that moment, I had been verbally working through some mental stuff and bouncing ideas around, when a clear bell chime sounded out from my pocket and apparently declared that I was on the right track.
To be perfectly honest, when the idea was first presented to me, I had a little giggle about it. It just seemed too easy; too simple to receive confirmation of my personal progression. How could the great and powerful Universe work in such obvious ways?
But isn’t that where most of us go wrong? We ask for signs and messages again and again, and we keep missing them. So we decide they’re too simple and we want more in-depth signs, ones we can’t ignore. (“A signier sign, please!”) But then we overthink those and decide they’re too complicated so we ask for something simple again (and so the cycle goes).
It never occurs to us that life isn’t always easy because we just stubbornly (and humanly) don’t allow our lives to be easy. By refusing to accept the idea that life could maybe be easy, we eliminate all possibility of it ever being true.
You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.
– The Mad Hatter, Once Upon a Time
(Season 1, Episode 17 “Hat Trick”)
The biggest obstacle facing us when it comes to allowing life to be easy is the incredible and sobering influence of our fears.
Life is a collection of moments, generally experienced in a series. Each moment is its own experience and there will always come another, and a next, and a next, until you reach the end of your collection, return to the Collective yourself, and evolve from there. Those moments are going to happen; nothing can stop that turning wheel and the continuous arrival of new experiences.
What keeps us landlocked is our constant mental commentary about the experiences we’ve already had or might face in the future. We terrify ourselves with worries, stresses, tensions and gut-wrenching “what ifs”. Or, just as effectively, we Keep Calm and Carry On, telling ourselves that life is hard but we accept it and intend to face it, not bow to it.
Noble. Admirable. Sustainable.
But what if there’s more . . . ?
“Life is hard” is not the only option.
Life is hard, absolutely, and filled with challenges and opportunities for growth that will make or break you. And it will continue, regardless if you rise up or shatter apart.
It will continue.
Regardless.
I love this idea.
The idea that we’re moving from experience to experience, regardless of anything and guided by our choices – one choice leads to one experience, another choice leads to a different experience. It’s going to happen no matter what. It’s the timeline of our life here. Time keeps moving, with or without our active participation. We can’t control what’s going to come next – we can have hopes, make plans, wish for it, prepare for it’s possibility, but we ultimately are at the whims of a maelstrom of shifting alchemical energies and the relationship they have with our individual experience of reality.
But we are not powerless.
We can’t choose what’s coming next, but we can absolutely choose how we react to it. Every situation presented to us is either an obstacle or an opportunity for growth. The trick to knowing which it is? Deciding.
And whether you decide something is an obstacle or an opportunity, there will be another situation soon after, dependent upon your choice. But now you get to choose again, and then another situation will present itself. And again. And again. Always onward until your path reaches its final experience.
Don’t immediately take everything personally and react based on your first judgments – instead step back and observe the situation from the outside (or above, if that feels better). Summarize what’s going on, take note of what’s directly affected, and then assess your list of optional responses.
Like a game.
Each possible option (A, B, C or D) will result in a different outcome, which you won’t know until you make your selection. Then whatever comes of your decision, despite how you may at first react, you’ll be able to take a moment to once again look at what’s going on, weigh the possible gains and losses, and make another choice. And so on and so forth.
Certain decisions will bring reward, while others will bring detours along your hero’s journey. The more rewards you earn, the faster you level up. And don’t hate on the detours – they allow for collection of new or rare items and skills to help you level up faster later on (if you keep an eye out).
No matter what kind of player you are, or what kinds of choices you make, the game will continue.
You can judge your choices and grow frustrated trying to understand the algorithm of life’s code and why the other avatars seem to have things you don’t, until you’re blue in the face and smashing your proverbial keyboard . . . or you can decide who your character will be, regardless of the next chapter of the storyline; decide what their guiding principles will be and what kind of hero (or villain) they’ll consistently be no matter what they face. And play on.
Unfortunately, life doesn’t tend to come with pop-up dialogues letting us know if the entity in front of us is something we should engage with, so we have to find our own ways to pick up these key hints along the way. And since we’re Masters of Manifestation who create our own realities, we can decide how these little cues and flags appear.
Life is complicated enough. Wouldn’t it be nice to decide something could be easy?
Like really, what have we got to lose?
And so we return to the Ding!
Here was something simple, easy to remember, and inarguable if trusted completely. Life was going to unfold one way or another, and a little guidance on whether I was “hot” or “cold” would be a huge help as I dodged the booby-traps of existence. I kept this little trick in the back of my mind for a few years, and there were many little moments over that time where my phone, MacBook or radio would Ding! at just the right moment to let me know I was headed in the right direction.
And I knew that it was right because it felt good when it happened.
I think everyone needs to try this. I ask again, amidst the rubble of a grieving, fear-based society, what have we got to lose?
Take this epic concept and run with it. Embrace it.
When you have or express a thought and suddenly receive an alert sound on your device*, decide that it’s a positive indication of your latest “Level Up”.
When you want to play on Interesting Mode, decide that whatever the alert opens to is your First Next Step, or the First Clue** for your New Mission.
Why not?
Get bitter or get better.
The choice is yours.
Welcome to your storyline, Hero. How ya gonna play?
It’s in the bag,
Sates xo
*Okay just writing that sentence and making it current-society-relevant literally made my insides coil. #commontongue
** I refuse to change this to “Lead”. #savethehumanimagination
