It was early morning, and I mean early… like 4:30 AM early, and I do love the early morning. I get to watch the sun rise and sometimes I see things I would never see once the sun comes up.  It’s also a great time to think about my day or just figure things out.  My current thought is how in the early hours I have to pull into driveways that might not be the right one…sometimes people put in the wrong address, or the house numbers are not visible.  After all the unnecessary, random shootings that we live with daily it does make me think twice about pulling into someone’s driveway this early.  I have been thinking about getting a bullet proof vest for a long time, and now I think it’s time to make the move.  It’s a sad commentary about the times we are living… and this is my thought at the moment, but I digress, as this is not what I’m writing about today.

CLARA…

There on the corner of some random back road in a very wooded neighborhood west of the city was Clara* at 4:30 AM with her suitcase in hand waiting patiently for my arrival. Clara was in her 70s, heading to the airport for a weekend wedding she was attending in NYC.  She was extremely friendly, and we struck up a conversation immediately.  She was visiting her daughter as she has been living temporarily in Maine for the last year.  Her real home is on one of those islands outside Seattle.

As we were chatting while driving down a beautiful, but dark windy road… out of nowhere a Fox ran right in front of the car. I pointed this out to Clara who was pretty excited to see such an early morning sight.  Literally 2 minutes later, an owl flies right across the road in front of us and I’m thinking wow this is odd to see a Fox then an owl crossing my path like this… Clara was totally loving this drive.  OK, that would have been considered a coincidence and I wouldn’t be making a big deal of this, but then as I rounded the corner I had to hit my brakes hard as there was a fairly large deer standing right in the middle of the road!  A fox, an owl & a deer? All in about 5 minutes of each other? Now this is rare, but as a coach I knew there had to be some meaning behind this.

SPIRIT MULES

Spirit Mules or Spirit Guides are any kind of sign the universe sends your way. It could be a person, place or thing that comes into your life at a particular time to confirm or pull you back from something you have been thinking about… a decision, a goal, a change or an issue you might be trying to resolve.  Most people miss these signs as they are too busy thinking about the future or the past and not being present in the moment.  These signs are real and I have experienced many throughout my life. For example, when I was thinking about becoming a certified life coach, I picked up a woman and we had an amazing conversation about life coaching and she encouraged me to follow this through and that it was the perfect path for me.  It turned out that she was a well-known author who had written 2 books on life coaching

(which she signed and gave to me). Now if that wasn’t a Spirit Mule or Guide then I don’t know what would be, as it gave me the sign that I was moving in the right direction.  I was definitely moving towards my “North Star”, which is a metaphor for finding exactly what you were meant to do while on this planet.

I know you are probably thinking, what is in Jim’s water?  It sounds like something unreal that I might be looking too hard at simple occurrences in life.  All I can tell you is it is real, and you too should try being more present in life.

ZOOLATRY

Now back to the the fox, owl & deer trying to get my attention on my early morning drive… The question was is it a sign for me, Clara or both of us? There is actually a term called Zoolatry, a belief that animals represent spirituality.  A White owl crossing your path could be sending a message about enjoying life, a fox could mean its time to act on something you’ve been thinking about, and a deer crossing your path could mean it’s time to live life to the fullest.  OK so for me all those meanings are relateable and they can definitely be aligned with some things I’ve been thinking about, or Could it have been a warning to me to be careful today as driving in Boston is a bit dangerous?   I decided to just be careful today and think about its deeper meaning.  Now  what about Clara?  I discussed all this with Clara and she agreed with me that it feels like some sort of sign.  In talking to Clara further about this she mentioned that she is a pet sitter back in Seattle.  Could it be that Clara is just really connected to animals? Were they trying to tell her not to go back to Seattle & stay in the East?  I have to admit it’s fun to think about the possibilities and what it all means!

So, let me ask you are you being present? Is your thinking too focused on the past or future?  What are some signs you might have gotten recently? Are you paying attention?

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*Names & any identifying information on people in this post have been changed for confidentiality.

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