Everything in Life is an Omen

 

'Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right'

Irving Berlin

Life is an Interpretive Dance and Everything is an Omen

Life is an interpretive dance, and every day we get to choose our dance steps depending on our interpretation. 

What do you see when you look out of your eyes? Good things? Bad things? Blue Skies? Grey Skies?

In 'The Alchemist', Paulo Coelho says, 'Everything in life is an omen.'  What does that mean for you and me?

As we step into each day, we are already primed to see or hear based on our internal filter. Do you expect a good day or bad day? Are you braced for battle or expecting to find love? 

When that cup of coffee spills first thing in the morning or you come out to a dead car battery or flat tire--what does that say to you about how the rest of the day is going to go?  Like the rest of us, you have your own omens that set you up to predict what to expect next.

While the word 'omen' often has ominous overtones, it is simply a thing or event believed to foretell a good or bad event or circumstance in the future. It is our own belief or interpretation of how the world works that creates the sense of something foretelling the future. 

It's all a matter of perspective--i.e. how we choose to interpret what we experience or what meaning we give to the 'signs' around us. This is true for animals too.

For example:

💓 I put bird food out for the birds and the squirrel sees it as a good omen.
💓 I pick up the dog leash and the dog sees it as a good omen.

All of Life Works in My Favor

If you have a tendency to look for bad omens instead of good, consider injecting a question to balance your thought process before you fly down the dark road of interpretation. 

When seemingly bad omens occur, consider how your 'seemingly bad event' could actually be something good that works in your future favor. How could this be a good omen portending good things coming your way?

By simply considering this alternative line of reasoning you can create an opening for a different perspective--one rich with possibilities instead of fear and foreboding.

In my early years of transitioning from college to career I chose to reinvent the breakdown of my car into a positive omen portending future financial gain. How'd that happen?

The first time I had car trouble I was struggling financially and the fear set in with the big bill I faced. But I decided that a car--which is a vehicle that gets you from here to there in life--knows when you are about to make more money. Silly, but it worked.

After I let go of seeing my car breakdown as a bad omen filling me with fear and foreboding, I experienced a financial gain--and from that day forward whenever a car broke down and demanded it's due--like paying the ugly old troll under the bridge--I had a positive expectation about financial gain coming my way.

Now you would probably like to argue with me that YOU don't indulge in this silly, magical type of thinking. But we all do--whether we call it looking for signs or omens or we simply call it analytical thinking to hypothesize probable outcomes.  We're all looking for a way to predict a future we have some control over. And we all want a positive future.

So why not be a bit silly and look for ways to put a positive spin on your interpretation of omens? To this day, whenever someone tells me they're having car trouble I say, 'Good! Your car always knows when you are about to make more money!' It makes me smile every time.

Like the Old Sufi Tale below illustrates, everything in life may be an omen--but good thing, bad thing, who knows? Try to find your good fortune in all.

Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows?

A man and his son repeatedly experience alternating 
bad luck and good fortune. 

His neighbors gathered around him to sympathize over

 the bad luck and congratulate him on his good fortune. 

But no matter his experience--seemingly good or bad-- 

the man always maintains his composure and says:

“Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”

Old Sufi Tale 

Look for the Blue Skies in Your Future

Blue Skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on

Irving Berlin

'She smiled, and that was certainly an omen--the omen he had been awaiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life.'  

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist