Listening and seeing signs all around us
Why signs and synchronicities play a role in the surrendered life
Welcome! This is the Sunday Soother, a weekly newsletter about compassionate personal growth and authentic living, written by me, Catherine Andrews, a life coach, teacher, and writer. Did somebody forward this to you? You can subscribe to the Sunday Soother here.
A quick hello to any new subscribers coming over from Oliver Burkeman’s wonderful newsletter, The Imperfectionist! The Sunday Soother and I are right now in the middle of a multi-part series on aligned, intuitive and surrendered living. You can see links to part I and part II below, and today is part III. Please enjoy and so glad to have you here!
Happy Sunday, Soothers. I'm back in your inboxes with part III of my continuing series on how to begin living a surrendered, intuitive life.
Part I, on stepping into the belief that a life force desires to be expressed through us, is here.
Part II, on why it's important to begin to claim and trust your authentic desires, is here.
And today, we'll be tackling what I think is one of the most delightful aspects of living in intuition and surrender: that of choosing, picking up on, paying attention to and following signs and synchronicities that are all around us.
Here's where we get a bit more mystical in this process, but I encourage even the most analytical and materialistic of you out there to play along this week, because, well, what have you got to lose? This kind of stuff is fun and delightful, and we could all use a bit more of that in our lives.
As I see it, the role of signs and synchronicities are important in living an intuitive, aligned and surrendered life because they are the messages that either the universe sends us, or our brain interprets, as sign posts along the way that encourage us to keep going.
The concept of synchronicity was first introduced by Carl Jung, "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection."
Here's a lovely little example of synchronicity that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. As I wrote about in Part II of this series, one of the desires currently on my heart is to be invited to teach a workshop in Italy. I had just tuned into this desire via some reading and journaling I was doing on a morning Amtrak train up to New York City.
After I got off the train in Moynihan Hall, I had a bit of time to kill before a meeting, so I set up with a cappuccino and my laptop at a standing counter near the center of the hall. I was thinking a bit about the Italy workshop desire, but mostly had moved on to the items of work on my to-do list I had to check off.
But as I set up my laptop and got to work, something compelled me to look up. My eyes caught an electronic billboard that was flashing a quick message:
"ITALY IS ON"
Huh.
The billboard turned out to be an ad for an airline, that was flashing several messages: "Italy is on. Hawaii is on. Greece is on!" and so forth.
But my eyes had caught it right at the second that "ITALY IS ON" came onto the screen, just an hour after I had tuned into my Italy workshop desire.
That's a synchronicity.
One of my favorite ways to tune into synchronicities on a more conscious level is to pick an intentional sign. Many of you may know that I have two signs significant to me: Turtles, and great blue herons.
Back in 2019, when I had just left my corporate job and was starting my business, I was deciding whether or not to make a large financial investment with a biz coach. I was walking along to meet a girlfriend for cocktails and wishing that I just had a sign to know if I should make this decision or not. Unbiddened, jumped into my head the thought, "Your sign should be a turtle."
Uh, okay. I at the time had literally no association with turtles, they had no special meaning for me, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. Who was I to argue? So, I told myself as I arrived for drinks with my friend, "If I see a sign of a turtle, I'll invest with this coach."
Later that night, as I browsed the DC online library of e-books to find something new to read, having totally forgotten my earlier conversation with myself, my eyes stumbled over two books that had the word "turtle" in their titles on the same row. My jaw dropped open, and it was on. I believed in signs and turtles from that point on. I distinctly remember seeing seven turtles in one day the summer of 2020; the next day I was invited to do an appearance on WNYC. When I had to take a call while at the beach with my mortgage lender to find out I'd been approved for the nature witch cottage loan, the cafe I ducked into was covered with dozens of signs and paintings of turtles. Often I see turtles, whether they are stickers, on TV commercials, or actual wild turtles, and they don't seem to mean or lead to anything specific, but I just take them as comforting signs that I'm supported and generally on the right track.
As for the great blue heron, these became a sign over time. My boyfriend and I spend part of our summer in rural northwest Indiana, where he's from, on a river cottage which is frequented by three great blue herons. Over time we became obsessed with them, even naming each (Mavis, Screaming Mavis Junior [long story], and The Duke) and we reference them constantly. And, as you might know, as we were about to leave the open house of the nature witch cottage, a great blue heron flew right in front of us. And, yup, it was on.
So am I saying I made these decisions to invest in a coach or buy a house based solely on the fact that I saw a couple of animals? Not totally; I used logic and evaluation as well on each, but I'm not gonna lie: the signs absolutely were what encouraged me to make the final leap.
A sign doesn't have to be an animal as many of mine are. Many in the spiritual community like to refer to "angel numbers," the repeating series of numbers you'll see on a clock or elsewhere, like 11:11 or 2:22. My little sister has a sign of 10:23; October 23 was her original wedding date before it got postponed due to Covid, and she would constantly send me screenshots of emails she got time stamped at 10:23 or other instances of it appearing.
Signs and synchronicities don't have to be something specific you choose, either, they can also simply be something uncanny that you notice around you. I had a friend who was mulling self-publishing a book and one night she was thinking about this topic while cooking dinner and had a TV show on. One line she caught as she half-listened to the show? "You should publish the damn book!"
One day as I was walking along in DC, waiting for some stuff out of my control to move through with the nature witch cottage, and I was absolutely stewing in fearful and negative thoughts and concerns. I turned the corner and glanced down, and there was a single Tarot card: The 10 of Swords. This card is about not indulging in fearful and negative anxiety and thinking. Message received!
Or on another day I was trudging through my favorite park. It was a time a couple of years ago when I was feeling really low and depressed. As I walked towards some of my favorite trees, a piece of paper on the ground caught my eye; it turned out to be a page from a baby's board book, and all it said on the page I found? "You are loved."
Signs and synchronicities can also be songs you hear on the radio at meaningful times or with meaningful lyrics; a snippet of conversation you hear from somebody walking by you in the grocery store; a message on a billboard or bumper sticker; or really anything else that, when you hear or see it, you sense has extra meaning for you.
So why are signs and synchronicities part of living an intuitive and surrendered life?
To me, they are like the little sign posts that mark the river of life we're being invited to flow down. They give us comfort, reassurance, or they ask us to pay attention to invitations and occurrences. They say, "Yes, you are on the right path, even if everything and everyone else around you seems to say you're not."
Having signs and paying attention to synchronicities also invites us into a conversation with this larger life force we're engaging with, whether we believe it's the universe, our intuition, or whatever bigger purpose is calling us forward.
So your assignment this week?
You guessed it:
Pick a sign (or share your existing sign) and leave it in the comments. Or, share a funny story of a sign or synchronicity that has shown up for you.
If you're brand-new to picking a sign, you don't need to overthink it. Some people start with asking for the sign of a penny, dime, or feather. Perhaps you have a bird that has meaning to you; I know many folks who have a cardinal as their sign, for example. Numbers are a great place to start, you could simply set the intention to see an "angel number" or a number that has special significance to you.
In short, trust the first thing that jumps to your mind. You don't have to justify it; if it shows up, trust that it's your sign and you can use it to begin to engage in a larger conversation with this life force that is asking to be expressed through us.
So drop that sign in the comments! And remember, anybody who comments on the posts along this series will be dropped into a raffle to win a free coaching call with me.
Next week, we'll talk about the importance of creating space so you can better listen, pay attention to, and tune into your intuition and these types of signs, and I'll give you some concrete practices for space creation. For now, drop those signs below and I'll see you next Sunday!
210: How to give your inner child a mental health day
In today's podcast, I explore the concept of how burnout is often related to the overworked, over-burdened inner child. I explain the basics of what an inner child is and how we all have one; how they become wounded; how we end up burning them out; and the solution — creating an inner child "play date" that gives them the rest, relaxation and play they so often desperately need. Intrigued by this concept? I encourage you to come pop in the Sunday Soother Membership for June, where the teaching and workbook is all around Playful Healing for Your Inner Child. $44, and you can sign up, consume the materials for this month, then dip out after.
Listen to all of my Sunday Soother podcast archives wherever you listen to your podcasts. I have over 200 episodes to binge!
Reads & Recs
Where I share articles, books, recipes, podcasts, beauty products and more that I'm enjoying! (A few links may be affiliate links off of which I'll make a small commission; I only endorse stuff I've tried and loved).
🏠 I'm doing something super fun: This Tuesday, I'm hosting a workshop all about how to run a magical home! Using principles of feng shui, intentional design, and a hefty dose of sparkly magic, I'll show you how to unlock the mystical potential of your living space. Immerse yourself in an enchanting journey where you'll learn the secrets of co-creating magic with your very own space. $25, tickets here and lifetime replay provided.
💛 Join energy healer Missy Toy Ozeas and me on June 21st, the solstice, for a summer evening to unblock limiting beliefs & clear old energy. Missy will first guide you through a group energy clearing, then I will do a group Tarot reading and draw individual cards to help further understanding and release of any blocks you may be experiencing. This will be an intimate evening, with just six participants. Only two tickets left and this will sell out, so grab yours now!
🎧 I was on the lovely and generous Damianne President's podcast, Changes Big and Small, talking all things intuition! Check out the episode, How to Get Back in Touch With Your Intuition, here.
👉 Also since I've started to be invited on more podcasts, I created a little playlist with all of my podcast appearances thus far here. PS invite me on your podcast, I will say yes and would love to talk to you!
💡 I really love Melissa Urban's newsletter, which is probably evidenced by the fact that I link it almost every issue of the Soother recs section. But this one is a particular genius issue: How to level up with the help of parallel timeline you.
😍 A softened heart: "I haven’t softened because life has been easy or without pain and trials. Rather, because of the experience of these pain and trials, I am more empathetic and less dogmatic. The important pieces of life are amplified and the insignificant everything-else fades… fades…" [The Elliott Homestead]
🌟 Via Recomendo, Every self-help book ever, boiled down to 11 simple rules
🎉 Speaking of Recomendo, one of its founders, Kevin Kelly, sent me his wonderful new book, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier, and I found it wise, practical, and helpful.
🔥 A new start after 60: I embraced being single and became an international pet-sitter. File under living her best life. [The Guardian]
💤 Taking a dropper of this valerian root tincture each night has really helped me to fall and stay asleep.
🌳 Even if you're not a business owner, I think we can all learn from and appreciate this conversation about regenerative business between Sam Garcia and Simone Grace Seoul.
🐦 Via Kottke.org: Black birder Christian Cooper reflects on what he's gained from birdwatching in an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Better Living Through Birding. "We lift our gaze skyward to the birds and see what it means to be free."
🫶 A recommendation from Katie in the Sunday Soother Slack: "I just read The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor and I highly recommend it for everyone but especially for those who struggle to make peace w their body. I am taking this line from the book and pasting it to my wall: 'Radical self-love is a muscle…If we do not work it, atrophy will set in.'"
❤️🩹 Speaking of books, in this next couple months of my Soothe mastermind, we are reading Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, and then Healing Your Lost Inner Child. Two of my favorite resources for growth and healing, so wanted to make sure to pass them on to you.
❇️ And closing out with a powerful quote from poet David Whyte: “The only choice we have as we mature is how we inhabit our vulnerability, how we become larger and more courageous and more compassionate through our intimacy with disappearance, our choice is to inhabit vulnerability as generous citizens of loss, robustly and fully, or conversely, as misers and complainers, reluctant and fearful, always at the gates of existence, but never bravely and completely attempting to enter, never wanting to risk ourselves, never walking fully through the door.”
That’s it for this week, sending you all of my love for the week ahead.
Catherine
PS: Don’t forget this Tuesday is my brand-new workshop, How to Run a Magical Home. I’ll be teaching you topics like the 9 tenets of a magical home; how to create a home altar; how to protect and energetically cleanse your home; and lots more! $25 and tickets are here, replay provided.
Amazing to see all these signs! Keep sharing, I can't respond to each individually but I am absolutely reading each one. Thank you!
A yellow car because they are unusual, bright like the sunshine, and are moving in the right direction.