Learning to hit the curve....

So I started writing a much lighter post on a completely different topic, but this one kept writing itself in my head, so I finally gave up and let it come through....

Life throws curve balls. (With the All Star Game coming up on Tuesday, I'm going with a baseball theme.) I don't care who you are, curve balls are going to be thrown at you. They are hard to predict and keep you off balance. You give a mighty swing, miss and look ridiculous in the process. Or, you get a pitch that comes inside and doesn't break, so you duck out of the way and hit the dirt. You then get back up, dust yourself off, and stand in for the next pitch.  Other times, you get hit by a pitch. You recover as best you can, and then head to first trying to get ready for what comes next. (Sometimes you get nailed by a fast ball and your life gets turned upside down, however today, we are talking about the curve.)

This process of letting go of your old life and creating a new one is, well, not easy. On top of working out who you really are, dealing with all of the emotions and consequences of the impact your decisions make on other people in your life, you also get to deal with....

...the week where work has been crazy stressful, you've been working overtime, have had meetings and/or clients, so you've hardly been home during the week. The cat is not amused at the alone time, and you get up in the morning to find that she has barfed in one of the shoes you were going to wear. Or, when you just want to come home and collapse and curl up in a blanket, you find that she has barfed on the only blanket you have (see previous post as to why this is a problem...)

...or the week where on Sunday night you pay all your bills and realize you have $17.63 left in your checking account, your car is low on gas, the kitchen is low on food, and you don't get paid until Friday. Wait, there's a new reflexology client on Tuesday! No problem - you can put gas in the car now and buy food Tuesday night! And then Monday night the new client calls to cancel. 

There are weeks when everything runs smoothly and you move confidently forward. Then there are the weeks where you have no idea what you are doing and really wonder what in the world you were thinking.  

I have been living on faith since January. The message today is for anyone else who is working on challenges or making big life changes:

When it gets really hard, you have a good cry, sometimes throw a spectacular pity party for yourself, and, then, in my case, you go sit on the beach and reset. You talk to a good friend. You realize that most of the pitches you've been thrown are the curves where you just have to laugh at yourself or just get back up and dust yourself off. You say, "OK God, it's you and me. Let's see what's next."  And then you start paying attention to what's going on around you and really stop, look and listen.  

On a day where you are questioning, you realize that the radio station you are listening to has just played:  "Don't Stop Believing"  "Don't Look Back" and "Don't Stop Me Now"  (yes, this really happened).

A week that you are low on food and cash, a friend calls and invites you to dinner and sends you home with leftovers. The office has food brought in for lunch. The grocery store has a sale with ridiculously low prices on just what you need.

The weather heats up and you realize that none of the summer clothes you wore last year fit you this year (thank you healthy eating and walking for this "problem"). Then a friend shows up out of the blue with a couple pairs of shorts and some t-shirts she was given that she doesn't need and is passing them along.

You bump into something that knocks over a stack of books (which trust me, is easy to do around here) and a book catches your eye that you haven't read in a while. You pick it up, flip it open to a random page - and read exactly what you needed to read in that moment.

You go outside and a butterfly practically flies into you.  Later another one almost flies into your car through the open window. The butterfly is a symbol of transformation: "changing life to such an extreme that it is unrecognizable at the end of the transformation." It is also a symbol of faith and represents the soul.  (I see a lot of butterflies.)

Looking at the license plates around you while driving to and from work, you see the number 4 repeated over and over. And you realize you keep seeing 444 - which can be interpreted that Angels are with you. You look at the wonderful people in your life and realize that your close friends and family are the embodiment of the Angels the number 4 is representing.

The lesson: Keep getting up and dusting yourself off. Keep laughing. Stand in for the next pitch, make some adjustments, and eventually you'll get a hit. It does get easier. God, Spirit, Angels, Universe - whatever you want to call it - has your back. Look around you and you'll see the evidence.

Light  Love & Laughter