When I was a little girl I loved being outdoors in my backyard, despite my grumpy face in this photo. (Between my parents and I, we still can't figure out what I was so upset about the day this photo was taken...maybe I hated the hat I was wearing?)
My parents love to tell me stories of how I acted as a kid, often describing me as dreamy, introspective, whimsical, and curious. I would love to go outside when it was raining to look for snails; on hot summer nights I'd trail through our backyard to collect newly born cicadas; some late afternoons I'd walk over to the Mother Mary statue in the corner of the yard and have conversations with her (I would love to see a video of this); and I'd put on musical performances with my sister for any family or friends that came over the house.
I loved to daydream, so much so that when I was eight years old and on a softball team for the first time ever, my dad would always have to remind me to pay attention to the game when I was in the outfield because I'd be staring up at the sky instead of onto the field. I guess some of these personality traits have carried over into who I am today; I still feel like I have one foot planted on the ground and the other in the ethers.
To this day, I'm still always looking for hidden meanings in our ordinary experiences of life. I try to bring as much magic as possible into my everyday existence, always looking for signs to thread together this life's purpose. Lately as I search for literary agents for my book, I find myself at times getting discouraged with the process. The dream of me being a published author is quickly replaced with an image of me being just a hopeful dreamer.
I ask for signs most days and every single time I do, I always find one. As this topic was on my mind this morning while I was driving, I noticed the truck that cut in front of me had a sign that said "Through Service, We Grow." It's the perfect message for me at the moment as I sometimes can get caught up in my website's statistics, number of followers and overall revenue, that I forget the real reason I write is because I get a great deal of gratification for sharing topics that can help people.
Also, I realized that when we take our focus off of our own lives and remember that this life isn't just about us and our own journeys, we shift our awareness onto the lives of others and how our actions impact the people around us. When we serve others, we ourselves grow.
If you feel lost or dismayed on your own path from time to time, I encourage you to ask for a sign, or at least be open to the possibility that there are signs all around you, all of the time. You just have to open your eyes, look around you or up to the sky, daydream a little, and the answers you're looking for are usually right there, in front you.
