There’s a timeless story trope where the hero is wandering the streets, lost in worry or despair, when the universe sends a sign. His gaze lands on a mother bird feeding her chicks, or a neon cross in a tattoo parlor window, breaking him out of his daze and awakening him to a path he didn’t see.
I’m not sure whether the universe does that kind of thing on purpose. But I think we’ve all experienced similar poetic signals, and we’re affected by them whether they’re ultimately haphazard, or somehow authored for us.
On a rainy Tuesday, just when your world is feeling small and lonely, someone texts you out of the blue, reminding you that you already have a lot of wonderful people in your life, if you care to reach out to them.
You’re procrastinating on an important task by making a needless walk to the corner store. On the way, you pass a box of free books, and sitting on top is a copy of Hamlet. A distant church bell tolls.
You’re thinking in circles about whether to relocate for a new job, when the driver behind you honks. You look up and the light is green. “Go already!” he shouts.
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I'm David, and Raptitude is a blog about getting better at being human -- things we can do to improve our lives today.
The ice cream example made me laugh. Even getting exactly what we wanted can turn straight into reaching for the next spoonful. Using just one inbreath as the starting point makes this feel much more approachable than setting out to “be still for twenty minutes”.