Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Looking for Feathers


            Writing a book had always been a dream of mine but my pursuit of a vocation had led me in a very different direction. Yet, I always wondered if writing a novel was a dream that would never come to fruition. Finally, after exhausting all my excuses, I sat down and began writing. I had forgotten how natural writing felt and how enjoyable it was for me. I had always loved writing when I was younger and even in my early years of college, I guess that was before my creative writing had to become more scientific and evidence based. Now in between being a wife, a mom, and an orthodontist, I really looked forward to my writing time. However, as much as I enjoyed writing it was also very consuming. I often wondered if I should continue to devote my time to this project. Doubts would creep in such as; was I the only one who thought that it was worth anything, was it a good story, and was I on the right track with my characters and plot? Around this time, I read an article about intuition and being open to receiving signs. I was back to the “believe, ask, and receive” advice. I was having “writer’s block” and nothing was working for me that day so I decided to stop writing and go for a drive. I was living in Colorado at the time and as I was in my car, I said out loud, “Please, I wish someone would give me a sign that I am not wasting my time” and in that exact moment, honestly that exact moment, a feather floated in front of me and landed on my sleeve. I didn’t think too much about it until I looked up and saw a sign that had the word “ANGEL” on it. Let me remind you that my novel is a coming of age young adult novel about angels. My heart raced a little and even if that was a coincidence, it had at least made me feel better and more encouraged, which is exactly what I needed to continue writing. Since that day, when I have doubts or on days when I need a pick me up, I seem to have feathers that fall to me for encouragement. I have had them show up in yoga studios, walking down a street, in my office, just about anywhere and everywhere. A group of friends and I went to see a well-known medium for fun one day and during the group reading, she pointed to me and said, “You can’t see it but a feather just came past my face and landed on you.” There was no way that she could have known about my feathers and my friends and I couldn’t help but laugh since it was not surprising to any of us. So how could this experience relate to you? Open your eyes, be receptive to signs, strive to reach new goals, keep reinventing yourself, believe that you can, and most importantly never stop looking for your feathers, whatever they might be.