Ever wonder who is in your corner? I get evidence all the time. Last weekend, a strange thing happened when I drove on the throughway toward Syracuse. I was just driving along minding my own business, listening to my book on CD, and I looked up just in time to see the 329th mile marker.
This strange phenomena happens almost EVERY time I make this drive. (In both directions!) 3/29 is my birthday. It is curious that I would never notice any other ones, but always look up just in time for this one.
It surprises me, because I make the drive so infrequently that I forget to anticipate it.
But, then again, I’m not really surprised.
For me, this has been a sign that my grandmother is watching over me. It began to happen as I traveled frequently to visit her when she was dying. And then it has happened consistently since then.
It always seems to happen when I need it…When I need to feel like someone is in my corner, that someone is with me, and that I am OK. For me, it is confirmation that I am on the right track in my journey.
Like other signs that remind me who I am and who is with me, when I see it, I feel relieved and grateful. Grandma was winking at me, acknowledging my work on the retreat last weekend. It was like a nod of approval. It made me feel warm and happy.
Who is in your corner?
If you look and listen, you find signs everywhere that help guide you through life. Signs that tell you everything is going to be OK. Signs that show you the right decision to make, (or let you know what not to chose). Signs that tell you that you are not alone in these decisions. In fact, you are not alone in life. Ever.
Some people call these skills in observation and others call this intuition. When we are not “in touch,” these may go unnoticed or worse bring a flood of self doubt. The good news is that we can build skills in understanding and trusting these signs by trying to pay attention to them. We can be “in touch” on purpose.
Try this: Ask your body to show you a “yes.” For me I get an upward swishy motion in my head. Then ask you body what a “no” is. I get a downward swishy feeling in my head, but you might have tightness in your abdomen, or you might feel a strong repulsion. You get the idea.
Now you can double check the signs you meet. When you hear a morning dove and you think, “That’s my mom.” Ask yourself if it is, and look for your “no” or “yes” signal.
Signs are so ephemeral that they can seem like our imagination. In fact, where do you think our imagination comes from?
They are our imagination. But remember…
“Imagination is the womb of a new reality.” Marianne Williamson.
Who is in my corner?
A deer used to help me remember to breathe. When I was walking around town and saw a deer painted on the side of a video game, I would consciously let my worries go and took a deep breath. A wolf helps me to feel supported. If I need this message, I might see a statue of a wolf in a shop window. Or when I get down on myself, someone just so happens to encourage me at the right moment. I might dream about a friend and them decide to call her up to check in.
When I am aware and grateful for the signs, I find they happen more often.
They help us create a new us and a new world, because they guide our next steps and our actions. And when we become open to them, we will see them and understand them more and more. We will feel more connected and less alone. We trust what we are doing and step into it with less fear in our hearts.
My grandmother was helping me and I definitely felt less afraid.
Over to you.
Have you ever gotten signs that helped you make a decision? Or let you know you were on the right track? Who was helping you and how did they?
Hi Jodi,
I couldn’t agree more with all that you’ve written 🙂
Just as in your case it was your grandmother, for me it’s always been my mother. There have been so-so many small signs, indicators, signals that tell me she is always around me – as my guardian angel. I guess when we lose the ones we love the most, they really don’t leave us, but always remain with us in spirit and this ways.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Thanks, Harleena! I hope you have a great week, too. I loved hearing about your mom. I don’t thing we are ever really separate from anyone. And thank goodness! <3 Jodi
in my corner and i’m in theirs…
two specific trees i talk to…. Any trees! when no human is watching or near.
SUNrise and Sunset ~ gazing at-in….
RW Emerson.
My dog, pele– speaking a language He and I understand.
recently ~ many sparrows (see hellopoetry.com…I’m “Sam Hawkins”)
So many here! and more!
I am SO blessed with ComPanY!
peace and blessings all!
These are so beautiful!
O, Jodi ~ I forgot to mention how my awareness got first sharpened so I could sense…about 7 years ago I said hello to my guardian angel for the first time and he/she felt present to me.
it was a whisper wordless feeling, the most whispery of that feeling
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Hello Jodi.
Interesting post.
I don’t believe in life after death, spirits, guides, signs etc. To me they don’t exist.
The only person who can make me make a decision is me.
Now please don’t think I am perhaps mocking those who do believe in the things I don’t, belief is a powerful thing, it can solve as many problems as it causes in peoples minds.
Everybody believes in something even me, but all I believe in is myself.
However, having said all that take a look at my blog post at this link. http://www.arkwrightsoforton.co.uk/blog/?p=1910
My mother reckons I have second sight, what ever that is, and as you will see from that blog post if you have read it things have happened to me and continue to happen. But I don’t think it’s induced by some other spirit or whatever. It just happens.
The mind can play tricks and in times of stress it’s natural to look back at things that bought you comfort, safety, joy or whatever. That’s human nature.
But I will admit one thing and that is that I know at some stage I will live in Annville Kentucky of that I am sure.
How’s that for a non-believer!!!
Very interesting perspective. I do believe what Jodi believes, but I liked your response. I believe Jodi is right, but your point of view is also valid. Very well written also.
Thanks for your comments, who was it who said “I might not agree with what your saying but I will fight for your right to say it.” I may well have paraphrased that a little.
I enjoy Jodi’s posts she has such commitment, passion and dedication, and for that she has my respect, even though I may not always agree with all she says. What she does say is from her heart and that’s what’s important.
<3
Thanks for your frankness Robert. I believe in you too! But I also don’t think you are separate from anything else. So if I beleive in you, I must believe in everything else. Everything gets included, but I don’t get distracted by all these things, I stay focused on the present moment and being kind and loving. I can’t wait to read that post!
That’s a bit deep on a Wednesday morning Jodi.
I am always frank and honest, it’s just the way I am.
There is nothing wrong with being kind and loving, I always try and treat people irrespective of who they are as I would like to be treated myself, and I will help anybody in need even people I don’t like. After all we are all human beings and if nothing else we have that in common even with people I don’t like!!
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I got really sick and had to be put on medication. I didn’t want to take it because I was worried about it affecting my daughter. I was only 2 months pregnant and I had previously had a miscarriage. I was terrified of that happening again. I went outside in my yard where my neighbor has a butterfly bush. One of the butterflies flew off the bush and landed on my stomach. It was a sign from my great-grandmother who always said she’d come back as a butterfly to watch over those she loved. She was letting me know my daughter was going to be okay. And she was better than okay. 🙂
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Kelly,
This is a beauitful story and I am so glad you added it here so everyone can read it! Thank you!
This blog is great and I love this butterfly story.:)
There aren’t any signs I specifically watch for, but there ARE signs I pay attention to – and basically, anything that makes me feel good, works for me. Could be something visual, could be a scent, like a whiff of jasmine or roses, could be hearing a snatch of a favorite song at just the right time.
I do always pay attention to butterflies, as they’re a wonderful sign of both freedom and transformation, and who doesn’t need both on a regular basis?
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This is a great plan!
I have Major Depressive Disorder. My beloved grandfather also suffered from depression. He used to sit in a chair & look out the window all day. He knew it was officially spring when the robins came back. He had a tree in his yard, where every year, the robins came back & built their nest in the exact same spot on that tree. Every time I see a robin, I think of my grandfather. I wish I knew how to post it here, but I have a very old picture of me when I was about 2 years old sitting on my grandfathers lap, looking out the window with him. Everytime I look at the picture (every day) I feel close to him. I understand his sadness & depression & why he looked out the window. It gives me chills everytime I notice that I am holding his hand in the picture. I feel a deep connection to him & miss him very much.
Ask him for some comfort now! <3
I can connect to all of the above! I have felt intense peace and comfort from birds, particularly doves. I have had images of wolves come to me during times of deep need and felt encouraged, as though I was not alone. I have felt connected to butterflies, including an entire swarm that descended upon the trees in front of my apartment last spring. They were surrounded by the sweetest smell of flowers. That began the most intense period of transformation I have ever been through. I feel it was a sign. Whatever it was it was intense and sweet. My husband was there to experience it with me. I associate smells with presences and with the beginnings of events. I have learned to understand the body sensations that go with the “positive” or the “negative” or the yes and the no, which helps relieve fear and confusion. I am letting myself get past whether it is “all in my head” becuase my understanding is becoming that we create our reality, so it doesn’t matter if it started it my head or the head of another consciousness. Real is real. All reality starts in someones head.
I could have written that comment. I agree so much. We are two peas in a pod! Butterflies are powerful to so many people because they are so beautiful and their change is so drastic.
Dear Jodi, a girl i grew up with died too young (breast cancer). In my hometown lived her young daughter who grew up to become a beautiful, thoughtful and successful young woman, triumphing over much hardship.
Visiting one weekend, we spent some time together and while I was dropping her off at home that night, I happened to look down at my Sirius satellite radio screen and saw the song, “I love you, Suzanne.” Suzanne: her mother’s name.
To some it might seem silly but i had neither heard of nor seen that song ever before (and music is a huge part of my life). I said, Lyn that must be your mom … she’s talking to you right now.
We hugged and went our separate ways. Real or imagined, that “sign” delivered a beautiful and comforting moment. And I’ve never seen it since.
Liz,
I am so glad you shared that story. How beautiful! I am so glad you keep in touch with her and this can help you see the resistence of humans. It is amazing what we can overcome. If anyone can, we can. Thanks, Jodi
I’d like to think my grandfather is watching and takes care of me from heaven.
Best regards from I. C. Daniel – Romania
I am sure he is!
First, this brings to mind for me the power of archtypal characters and the wisdom inherent to their stories. One book that was transformational for me, as it awakened an awareness of the inner wisdom I hold which can be immensely powerful, is “Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Gloria Pinkola-Estes. I initially read this nearly two decades ago and it quickly became my ‘bible’. I have since picked it up here and there when I needed it. I highly recomment it!
Second, I have also had surprisingly phenomenonal experiences related to my sences, my personal awareness of my suroundings, and a need to quel some inner turmoil, even if that need was at times unconscious. For example, when I was a little girl my father used to make the sound for the call of the male Cardnal, which I always remembered with fondness. Years later, on one very early cold January morning, so early it was still dark, I found myself standing at the bus stop to catch a ride to work. I was a college freshman; pregnant, alone, cold, and suddenly terrified. In that moment of impending panic, I heard the sound of my father’s bird call and I was startled into amazement and wonder that something so proundly simple could come to me just when I needed it in that moment. I felt my father was there to support me and protect me, so I was comforted and strengthed by that to push forward that day. Mind you, my father is still alive so of course I called him later that day to tell him of my experience and thank him just for being part of my life as a child, so when I neede a comforting memory as a grownup it was provided. Mindfulness. Connectedness.
There are many such instances. For me, a hawk is protection and a wolf is inner strength, but the most profound is possibly when I smell the sent of another with me, such as Lilly-of-the-Valley perfume or a particular pipe tobacco, when there is no logical reason for that scent to be in the air. *sigh* I just can’t “explain” those experiences, but in those moments I feel connected to something other than the here and now.
Just a few thoughts. Thank you Jodi, for your blog, your wisdom, and your insights as we learn to connect the dots of our truest selves. I am honored to share space here with you.
Melody,
What beautiful and kind words you say. I do have to get Women Who Run With The Wolves. Someone mentioned it recently and it was a sign to me. Your comment confirmed it. I love your stories about your dad, the smells and animals. It does help to center us, remind us, when we it need to. I am honored for you to be a reader and I am so grateful for your comments!
Love,
Jodi
Melody, what a brilliant comment. Thank you. I’m crying remembering my own father’s bird calls and the aroma of his pipe tobacco. He passed away 2 and a half years ago, and your comment has brought him to me again.
PS. Women Who Run With the Wolves is a favourite of mine too. I recently wrote a series on it on my blog.
Jodi,
I agree. It’s all about “AWARENESS.”
Are we listening? Do we hear God’s voice?
Have I ever told you that Kay and I LOVE/Loved the poem by ee cummings called- “I Carry Your Heart With Me?” I told her she must read it at my funeral someday and she exclaimed, NO! you shall read it at mine.
I did read it at hers thru many tears.
Guess where her head stone is?
Row e e
To me, this was a prayer.
Love to you, Sweet Angel. xx
–My fave version of this poem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o860sV5-pyg
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Kim, such beautiful, and yet so poignant, signs. Just thinking she’s in Row ee gives me goosebumps. I’m so in awe at how close you two were and are.
Jodi, so true your post. There’s something I’ve been wanting but I was 100 percent on the fence about. And then it literally walked into my life. To me, that was a sign.
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Monica, It is for you! Just for you! I am so enjoying your Lightening In a Jar! <3 Jodi
Kim,
So beautiful…e e. Yep, it is on purpose. A prayer for you. Thanks for the video. It is beautiful! Love you, sister!
I see signs all the time!! They are right there and no one realizes them. For some reason now, everywhere I look is the number 29! I don’t know what it means but it’s still a sign.
Great post, Jodi!
Blessed Be.
Dan
29 is my brithday, as you have read. I see 29 and 329 everywhere also. Another connection between us. 🙂
I’ve learnt that my intuition is a very powerful ally and that my body is a compass for truth. I really enjoyed reading about your ‘animal’ signs and their significance for you. Fascinating learning as always Jodi x
I love the idea of our bodies being a “compass for truth.” I amgoing to meditate on that concept! Thanks!
You know, it’s funny I recently made a big decision to come forward about some suspicions I had of abuse. I’d had these suspicions for a long time (I won’t go into detail here) but worried that maybe I was crazy. Then out of the blue, a friend contacted me and asked about this specific person. It was just what I needed to stop doubting myself and do the right thing.
I hope you coming forward was fruitful and it validated whomever had been hurt by the abuse. I am so proud of you. You have the biggest heart! <3
Ooooh, I love this post, Jodi. I’m going to pay more attention to this stuff. I know it’s there, waiting for me to notice it!
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Just under your nose!
Currently, the signs that tell me I’m not alone come in the form of birds and animals during my daily walks around our farm – the crow and hawk in particular. In my younger days, signs came in the form of deer, usually a doe and her fawn, that appeared often during my walks in the woods near the Cosumnes River. I treasure the moments when the crow and hawk circle overhead, even seem to be following me, and when deer freeze and stare, even make eye contact, before rushing into the bushes.
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I came home tonight to find about 30 turkey vultures in two trees behind my house and another ten circling. It was so amazing!
I believe in signs and that they are part of our intuition. I had a major ‘sign’ experience right before I separated from my husband. An older woman on the beach walked right up and started talking to me about many things one of them being that she was living her life over since her husband died and that she had never been happier. She confessed her husband was a good man but she didn’t love him. Wow. It was like she was reading my mind. An angel, I refer to her as.
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I am grateful for your angel!
Wonderful post, Jodi. When I start seeing signs and “miracles” around me, I know that in that moment I’m being big and loving and gracious. And converse applies for me too.
Wonderful post, Jodi! I love your suggestions to be aware of signs and to be grateful for them. I am going to start listening more to what “yes” and “no” feels like in my body.
I believe I’ve had signs in dreams. My father died almost 16 years ago, and I had a really hard time coming to terms with it. He had been so sick before he died, and I was angry at the unfairness of it. One night I dreamed of him. He looked young and healthy. He didn’t say anything to me, but I said something like, “Long time no see. Real long time no see.” I woke up and knew that he was OK. He had visited me to let me know that.
My beloved cat Waddles also visits me in my dreams. In my dreams, she’s fluffy and healthy, not sick as she was in the end. The night before she died, our late cat Thunder Cat visited my husband in a dream, telling him that everything was going to be OK.
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tina, i can so relate to this. when my dad died (and i was with him shortly before) my main source of comfort was that he would soon be living his best life, the life he never had. fly, fly and be well, i imagined. thanks for telling your story.
This happens to me all the time! The most dramatic recent occurrence was in February when I asked my Dad’s spirit to help in a situation involving my daughter. It all turned out well, and that very day, I saw a radio controlled model airplane flying over a field. Significance? My dad was flying his plane when he died.
Great story about your grandmother and also an encouragement to us to pay attention to the signs we get that we are being watched over.
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I can picture the plane flying and it is heartening!
Yes! Do I pay attention to them? Ignore them? Yes and Yes. You’ve probably maybe everyone stop and think with this one. Sometimes when I am in one of those moments, I pause and think.. really? If this truly happening or am I imagining it? It’s the strangest feeling. Now if only I alway paid attention. A work in progress. A wonderful story about your grandmother.
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I love when we can bask in contridiction. It’s a very exciting place to live! The story!
I very strongly believe that my grandmother and my mother are helping me and guiding me. Sometimes It is so strong and however I try to ignore the messages, they are still there.
What I noticed lately is that it’s not only people who passed that can be giving me signs, and that makes the experience more beautiful. I have experienced so many times signs from you. I can give an answer to a question and then wonder where did that come from? and than you tell me it was exactly what you would have replied.
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I love that! But also, because you know. You have been watching and now you know everything I know. This is an incredible skill you have to learn quickly. It has helped you survive. You have an amazing brain and soul. It is just remembering….
I have found that things have seemed to appear when the time is right. I never noticed it before, but now that I am more aware I see them happening rather than looking back and going wow that’s what that meant to me. Life is an adventure and it is good to know that we are never alone.
I definitely related to the feelings of saying yes and swishing upwards and then the saying no and feeling like my body folding into itself.
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I know what you mean. Other times I wonder why the thing is not showing up. I am like, please come I am ready, but somewhere I must not be.
I have definitely gotten blatant signs from God that I’m on the right track. I love those signs. I sure would like some signs that tell me when I’m on the wrong track, though–it might save me some time and decision-making! Beautiful post.
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Thanks Shay! There are signs to turn around and go back. Or abort. Just listen, they will be there! <3
Beautiful post, Jodi!
Let’s see, my all time favorite sign, which I think I told you about is
about the poem, I Carry You in My Heart by ee cummings.
Kay and I LOVED that poem… & I told her one day she would read it
at my funeral.
The first time I visited her at the cemetery, I was stunned when I noticed the row
she was in: ee
I said, “Thank you, God!
xxxxxx
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I read that story long ago on your blog, I think. I love it. ee xx xexe