One evening many years ago, I was heading out to meet friends for a few drinks when I came across a dead rat on the sidewalk. Instead of being repulsed and continuing on my way, I completely spun out and ran back home, cancelling on my friends. It wasn’t that I was scared of the rat (it didn’t seem to pose much threat, being dead and all), but terrified of the symbolism of it all. At the time, I was newly interested in spirituality and had misinterpreted the rat sighting as A Bad Omen. I was overthinking, overreacting and overstating the importance of almost everything. Sound familiar?
I get asked by clients and social-media followers about signs from the angels and the Universe a lot (like, a lot a lot), and I do wonder whether some of these queries aren’t driven by healthy spiritual curiosity but by hypervigilance, fear and anxiety. In some cases, I can’t help but suspect maybe the desire to have an encyclopaedic understanding of signs and their significance could be coming from a similar space of overreaction as I was once in.
(Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash)
It took me a long time to understand that not everything means something. To fully grasp the fact that the Universe isn’t a helicopter parent, hovering over me, actively sending warnings when I’ve made a poor choice (for balance: there can occasionally be times when divine forces do intervene when we’ve strayed too far from our soul paths). To really deeply comprehend that a sign is only a sign when my intuition recognises it as such, and not when online spiritual gurus say it is or when fear knee-jerks a ‘this is bad this is bad this is bad’ sensation into my consciousness. To embody the understanding that true knowingness comes from a deep space within, not from the spinning-out wheels of my brain.
It also took a lot of healing work for me to move into a space of empowerment, where I am now able to trust myself to make the right choices, instead of living in such constant doubt and insecurity that absolutely anything could throw me into second-guessing and overthinking. Having that foundation means I’m not handing over too much power to perceived ‘signs’ and omens, and means I’m more easily able to recognise when something is, in fact, a genuine sign.
(Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash)
Here are some of the other mistakes I’ve made when it comes to receiving signs from the Universe (or not receiving them, as the case may be):
· Signs are usually a confirmation that you’re safe and all is well, not a warning or a harbinger of doom.
· Don’t work too hard to find the meaning of a sign. For example, many people are obsessed with the significance of repeated digits, and yes, those absolutely can be a sign from the Universe but I personally have found that trying to ascribe meaning every time I happened to see 11:11 (which happens a lot, in a world where we’re often online) was exhausting. My advice: if it doesn’t feel loaded with significance, don’t force it.
· Don’t put lean too heavily on ‘sign dictionaries’. These guides can certainly be helpful, but we need to use our own discernment. For example, some people say spiders are symbols of creativity (given they spin a web), but that doesn’t mean that me walking through a spiderweb on my morning walk – an experience that isn’t uncommon in Australia, BTW – is a message to go and do something creative.
(Photo by freestocks on Unsplash)
Is there anything you’ve learned about signs that surprised you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
If you’d like to talk to me about how spiritual healing can help you stop overthinking and start feeling secure within yourself, reach out here. Sessions are done over Zoom, no matter where you live.