Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
This week the Happy Warrior reminds us to pay attention to our mind, to listen to our hearts. He shares a parable about decision-making and how we find affirmations in our everyday life to guide us. We choose a path and then become hyper-aware of the world around us, we are open to receiving messages and signs. Sometimes they support your decision, sometimes they encourage you to consider an alternate path. We practice intent to be aware that they are there at all. I leave the mat deep in thought.
The days that follow are full. There is volunteering at The Tibet House, a furniture delivery, a yearly skin cancer screening. I travel north to celebrate Samichlaus with my friends in the suburbs. I brave the frost to hear a message of inclusion and revolutionary love from Dr. Jacqui Lewis. I help a friend rediscover her purpose. I listen to another friends’ interior decorating ideas and blanch. I remember that I am in control, that I don’t have to do anything that I don’t want to do. I breathe.
And then it snows. Something is soothing and magical about the first snow. It slows the city down, gives us pause, and allows us to savor the moment.
My friends gather at the treehouse for dinner. It’s a girls’ night Italian-style. I make my mother’s il sugo from scratch, and we try fresh gnocchi from Un Posto Italiano, an artisanal pasta maker in the neighborhood. Prosecco flows as we catch up on our daily lives. There is laughter as we toast one another’s accomplishments. It has been quite a year: three business launches, two weddings, one new home, a handful of transformations, some of them still in the works. We share deep lingering thoughts, and we talk through them to find clarity. After dessert, Suzie and Monica lead us through an oracle card reading where we intuitively decipher the meaning for ourselves and each other.
The week ends just as it began with an open heart and an open mind.
modern vintage ink 