Ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

I have been thinking about this quote I heard from Cormac McCarthy all day. He said,

"You never know what worse luck your bad luck saved you from."

I love this quote because it relates to one of my favorite spiritual principles, that if things aren't working out it might be because something better is lining up for you. Just as easily as your bad luck can save you from something tragic, your bad luck can also be blocking you from settling when something really freakin' amazing is about to happen. To wait for this better thing requires trust, patience and an ability to surrender without giving up. It also requires stepping away from obsessing over what's not working and staying open to what you do want, to the positive. (I'm not always able to do this. But I've written other posts about the importance of embracing how you feel, so I'll leave it at that. Don't be afraid of your feelings.)

We aren't always blocked because something better is trying to happen. Sometimes we have conflicting beliefs, or a core feeling that we're not worthy of the thing we desire. In order to find this out for yourself get quiet, breathe deep, and ask yourself what's going on. If you aren't sure about your answer, or you hear nothing, ask the Universe to send you a sign. It will, and you'll know it when you see it.

Today I got a beautiful and fun sign. I was sitting in Starbucks waiting for my tall mocha. It never came and I filled out some paperwork and it still never came. I went up to the counter to ask if I could get my mocha. They apologized for having forgotten. When it was ready it'd been upgraded from a tall to a venti! 

This for me was a reminder that when things don't work out right away that there truly might be something better lining up. I ordered the tall because I only had a few dollars on me. I would've loved to have gotten something bigger, and when it showed up I said, "Awesome!" 

It's easy to say, oh but that's just a coffee. That's small. So what? How does that help with the big stuff? Well for one thing, sometimes you have to start with the small in order to believe. When you believe, things start aligning, doors open, and suddenly the big stuff is there, just as easy.  

It also helps by being a signpost. You have to be willing to see the signs in your own life. If you disregard something as too small and insignificant then that's a choice you've made. The small stuff is important. Sometimes, the small stuff is life itself. The most elegant tree starts as a small seed. And so if you are willing to value the small, to say thank you and trust it's leading you to the big stuff, you'll find that your life is full of messages and signs, and that you are never walking alone.