It was summer and the year was 1994. I was sitting on the grass beside one of my flower gardens in my backyard and focused on deadheading wilted blossoms on a row of white petunias that stretched along the edge of the garden. For several days I’d felt frustrated, angry, depressed, and I’d avoided any and all situations and contacts that could — even potentially — lead to a disagreement. I stayed in the slow lane (uncharacteristic for me) when I drove somewhere, and my family was on notice to not ask me for anything. Of course, I had allowed myself to get mired in the negativity that was rumbling like a thunder storm through and around me. It was up to me to get out of the storm and I was trying.  

Pinching the wilted flowers from the bushy petunia plants was a perfectly monotonous task that helped me relax. The grass felt cool against my bare legs. A soft and warm breeze touched my back and arms from time to time. A plane passing overhead and the low hum of traffic on the freeway that was a mile away were the only sounds. 

So when a voice said, “You are here to live in joy,” I glanced back over my shoulder to see who had spoken, and saw no one there. The message was literally from out of the blue.

What I’d heard was different from having a thought about someone and remembering something they said. I wasn’t thinking about anything. In fact, my mind had been as quiet as the birds that flew from tree to tree to rooftop to fencepost, just tending to the business of being birds.

The obvious question then is Who did the voice belong to? The answer is that I didn’t know—not then, anyway. When I was younger and something frightening would happen, I’d occasionally feel as though some part of me could  pay attention to everything that happened so that I could remember details later if I wanted to. I learned to count on the presence of something that I felt had my back, because I sensed that it was watching out for me.

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The brain is an amazing organ. It governs creativity, memory, intelligence, and emotion. It interprets what we sense with our bodies and see with our eyes and it controls our reactions to everything in our environments. It’s also the source of intuition. Intuition is what the Office of Naval Research calls “spidey-sense.” It’s that ability people have to know something without analytical reasoning. Responding to intuition has been known to save lives on the battlefield. An example you might be personally familiar with is that sense that experienced drivers have about other drivers and knowing when a driver will change lanes before the car’s signal light to change lanes comes on. This awareness of other drivers has saved me from being involved in a few potential accidents. Albert Einstein, Oprah Winfrey, and many business leaders ascribe their success to having followed their intuition. 

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Perhaps it was intuition that pushed me to purchase an online painting class  in 2018. In the Introduction to the course, the course author recommended the book Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks. I love books and reading and many times I’ve walked by a book that seemed to nearly jump off the shelf so I would notice it. Every time that happens and if I decide to buy the book, I find an answer to some big question my mind has been entertaining.

In early 2018, when I bought the course, I was still recovering from some very challenging health problems that had resulted in three hospitalizations, two surgeries, and treatment for two different kinds of cancer. (As I write this, I’m doing well.) I mention what was going on then because while I wasn’t in the same place I’d been in the 1990s, the health problems had rocked my world. In hindsight, I can see that my expectations about myself, my world, and what might come next had been tipped upside down. I was looking at life on planet earth from a different perspective. I wasn’t sure what I could or would do next. Painting is what I decided to do again. 

I looked online for information about Esther and Jerry Hicks. Then I bought the Kindle version of Ask and It Is Given. On page 8 I saw the words You said, I will live in joy. 

I was stunned. There were those words again!  

I can’t explain how or why these things happen. Some would say it’s coincidence. I know it’s more than that. What I can say without doubt or hesitation is that we are all here to live in joy. We just have to get out of our own way. 

Power Play

If you want to deliberately create your life, when you’re ready to learn how to believe in and trust yourself, check out Ask and It is Given or listen to Abraham Hicks on YouTube.

To read more about how the military relies on intuition click here.