Hand Lettering by Melanie Biehle
I’ve been writing in this space for six years now…happy birthday to me! To celebrate, I’m going to share a story that will possibly make you stop reading. But that’s okay…I have to tell it anyway.
Recently I discovered author, motivational speaker, meditation guru, and a woman Oprah herself called a “next generation thought leader,” Gabrielle Bernstein. Last Friday I was listening to one of her talks and she told a story about having a difficult time and looking for a sign that she was on the right path. She spoke to her friend who asked her something like, “Well, what’s your spirit animal? Your sign? Have you seen it? Mine is a dragonfly. I see it everywhere.” I can’t remember what Gabby’s response was exactly, but somehow she came up with an owl. Then she started looking for owls everywhere, as a sign she was moving in the right direction. Something happened and she didn’t see an owl, but she saw a dragonfly. Later that day she got her owls…then more owls and more owls. She felt like she was doing the right thing.
This reminded me of the time I saw elephants everywhere. I started thinking, it’s been a long time since I was surrounded by elephants. I wonder what my spirit animal is now? Then I got distracted by another shiny internet object and forgot all about it.
Hours later that day, I was lying in a completely dark, completely silent float poad. I’ve been meditating now since November, with different guided meditation series by Oprah and Deepak Chopra (The next free class starts on March 16th! If you’re even a little bit interested in trying it out, you should definitely sign up!) and have been choosing different mantras to use in my monthly floats. When I was floating last week I chose a mantra that I’d used and loved earlier that week – a meditation for activating your power/the third chakra.
Are you guys still with me? Are you rolling your eyes? I know, I know…
You guys…about halfway into my hour(ish) float, I saw the face of a freaking lion.
A lioness, to be exact, and more specifically only half of her face. She faded in in slowly from a dark shadow and quickly dissolved away. I had completely forgotten about the “spirit animal” thing I’d heard earlier that day until the moment after I saw it. I have never seen ghosts or visions or anything remotely weird like this in my life, and no, I wasn’t taking any unprescribed drugs that would alter my brain in this way at the time. I saw a freaking lion. And then I saw more.
On my walk home that day, I started doing what Gabby did – looking for lions and lionesses everywhere. I didn’t see a lion, but I saw a sheet full of ceramic owl magnets in a pottery studio window! Then later, when I got home, I saw my first lion – in a birthday invitation on Instagram.
I share this “woo woo” story with you today because of where I am in my own journey. I’m feeling more connected to the energy of the world. I’m feeling more in tune with myself, who I am, what I believe, and what I stand for. I’m feeling more confident and secure. I’m much more calm and reflective, thanks to meditation. And I guess, I’m becoming more “woo woo” than I used to be – I’ve looked at different posts I’ve written around this stuff where I described myself as 10% “woo woo” in 2012, 20% in 2013, and now, at 2015…I’ve got to be hitting 45%.
I feel good and I feel grounded and I feel confident…and I wanted to share that with you. xoxo