Wednesday Wish (172); Nod, Listen, Honor

Did you hear the invitations whispering to you between the gaps in your thoughts? Did you see a twinkle, or feel a twitch, breathe in a future chapter, or taste a distinct flavor, one you knew but somehow had yet to meet? Or did you ignore it, did you ignore them all? Was life too busy to give them your time, your ear, your energy? Was there barely enough to get through your day as it was? Did you want to pay attention to the messages so finely woven into your morning and into your night, but did you not think you knew how? Did you not learn to honor the quiet gifts offered to you, the silent nudges, tucked between the folds of your over-stuffed life? If you didn’t, you needn’t worry. If that’s the way it’s been for you, beautiful friend of mine, you need to know you’re not alone.

In the beginning, the whisperings might’ve seemed like mere distractions. You might’ve had comments thrown at you, words attempting to define that which had no name, to make you believe the whispers were full nuisance.

‘Focus!’

‘Pay Attention!’

‘Airhead!’

‘Earth to human!’

You might have joined forces with the larger and louder, even laughing at yourself when your mind or heart or imaginings rode you off into the spaces of yours alone. You wanted to fit in, to belong. Doesn’t everyone early on?

Later on, the whisperings might’ve morphed into gentle nudges, one by one showing up in your life like streaks of chocolate in a vanilla cake batter. You saw them. You knew they tasted good. But you also noticed that the less you paid attention, the faster those tasty, forbidden streaks would whisk themselves away into the sea of white that was your everyday life. Fitting in, following the rules, was important to you. Isn’t it to everyone at some point?

But then…

You began to wake up heavy.

Confused about the meaning of life,

Wondering where the beauty

Was hiding.

Why the magic of life

Passed

You by.

When truth is, it never left you. All along, it’s been there—whispering, nudging, inviting you to embrace the magic of your wisest Self.

But how…you sing out through your hardened tears…how, after all these years of ignoring, can I change things now?

You nod

In the direction of the whisperings.

You give them your attention

Even if others call you names

Or call you wrong.

You listen

When the portals open

When the clouds part

When some part of you

Awakens to a secret longing you forgot you carried.

And you honor

Your deepest urges

That challenge you to be

More of who you are at your core.

Even if you stop fitting, stop belonging, stop melding into the carefully constructed space cradled around you. For once you start honoring your truest Self, you belong everywhere and anywhere that matters the most.

* * *

A simple nod, a bit of listening, and a dare to honor something deep within can change an entire life. From heavy to hopeful, from dark to light, from depressing to filled with the promise of better tomorrows. Throw in a few twirls and a flower or two and you might just start a wave of tempting change for your neighbors …bending the trajectory of Future toward hope, toward beauty, toward a magic that’s far too easy to ignore, and far too important to keep to one’s self.