Applied Happiness Coaching

I just returned to Chicago from the Carolinas, and although I’m pretty bummed to be back to the daily grind, I picked up some pretty good signs from the trip. My friend Cori and I flew to Charlotte and stayed with some friends for a long weekend. We rented a little car, and checked out our directions. The moment we set foot on Carolina soil, we were lost. Our directions took us in all kinds of wrong directions, and the majority of our time in the car was spent searching for any major road to take us where we wanted to go. Saturday morning we got up early to make the trek across South Carolina to see Charleston, and find a place to build a house. Again, our directions were wrong. In fact, they lead us to a private driveway 20 miles outside the town we wanted!  The entire day went like that.

Then we decided we were done with the suburbs and the house shopping, and we were just going to head into the city and put our feet in the ocean. We didn’t have directions, or any knowledge of where we were going, other than get on the expressway and head East. Incredibly, all we did was open our eyes and follow the signs, and we ended up exactly where we wanted to be. We parked on the edge of the waterfront, and walked through The Battery (park in Charleston) taking pictures of all the beauty around us.  Feeling hungry, we got back on the expressway and again, without any directions, just followed the signs to Sullivan’s Island, and we hit the beach. We also hit an amazing little restaurant where we savored an unbelievably delicious meal. If you’re ever down there, check out High Thyme on Middle St. in Sullivan’s Island, SC. Order the swordfish and a bottle of the Jekel Riesling.

It’s only now I sit here and reflect on the moral of all of this. Read the signs. Sometimes we all get so caught up in the planning and organizing, that we miss out on chances that the Universe is giving us. Our directions were all wrong. We screwed every single turn up, and ended up in the wrong places almost all day. We met wonderful people in our travels, but it didn’t help us get there any faster. Once we stopped looking at the map and the phone, and started just moving in the right direction, we hit our destination.

In life, too many of us have this obsession with time and space, and hitting milestones by a certain date. We have this drive to be at a certain point on the track by a set age.  And we go in the direction that society tells us to go.  I think we are missing the true calling. There is no right and wrong time to fall in love. There’s no set time to be married and have kids. There’s no perfect age to experience something. Your life is your own, and you can make it anything you want tit to be. Set an intention to go where your heart leads you. See your future in a happy, wonderfully abundant place, and see yourself arriving. Now go. Don’t worry about the directions, your direction is forward. The world will point you, and turn you, and send you on your way when necessary. Follow the signs.

Some call them guardian angels, others call it fate, and others still call it the Universe – any way you look at it, there are signs all around you that give hints to facets of your life, and your travels. Whether it’s an abnormally large stop sign telling you to turn back, or a truck blocking the exit you thought you wanted (ultimately caused us to exit at the wrong road, but took us exactly where we wanted), you need to pay attention to the world around you. Your life is full of incredibly powerful energy, and if you intend something to God or the Universe, all you need to do is travel in that direction and the signs will deliver it to you. 

Our trip to Charleston and Sullivan’s Island was electric. It was filled with beautiful people, breath-taking scenery, and such warm Southern hospitality, that we had trouble getting back into the car and making our way home. It really turned into a beautiful day when we threw out our maps and just drove blind. We were led to everything we wanted, and we never made a wrong turn. 

Just a little food for thought. I hope you are all having a wonderful day, and I hope your signs are telling you great things.

Blake