Have you ever had one of those things happen that makes you recoil saying, “I did NOT see that coming?” You stood there stunned that this could have happened. You immediately reached for the phone and as soon as your friend picked up it was like someone hit the launch button. “Holy shit, you won’t believe what just happened!! This afternoon blah, blah, blah,” and the tirade went on and on, the report of your dismay spilling forth so quickly you nearly forgot to breathe as the events were mounting up so fast your friend can only listen in stunned silence? I know sounds so unlike anything you’ve ever encountered or done, right?
We’ve all done it. Played phone a bestie, spewing forth a string of events so illogical and surprising that we just acted out of the need to tell our story to someone; someone who would relate and share in our astonishing turn of events. Maybe they’ll even add their emotional energy to yours making you feel heard and understood (which truly only serves to magnify the situation and keep the tidal wave fueled.) If you’re feeling called out take a breath, pause. If you have no idea what I’m talking about I invite you to take heed and review.
When I was a single homeowner, I had a yard I loved to putter in and a couple trees that drove me nuts. They dropped leaves 365 days a year; they were beautiful to look at and provided much needed shade in summer helping to keep the house cooler and the electric bill down, but the leaf clean-up was enough to make even a landscaper crazy. (Remember those helicopters our parents hated because they were always in the gutter? Yeah, the leaves were like that. Every single day.) My bedroom window faced that tree obscuring the view from outside. I was startled awake one night by I didn’t know what but, just like that, I was awake and on alert. After a brief but groggy pause I heard it again – that noise what was it? I held my breath in the darkness waiting to hear it again. Suddenly, there it was! But what IS it? More pensive waiting and nothing. I dismissed it and went back to sleep once I settled down. I thought about it some more over coffee and laughed at myself for being so tense the night before and went about my day. A few weeks later, during a storm, I was again awakened by a massive crash in my room. There was no mistaking the source this time. There was glass everywhere, wind and rain coming into the room, soaking the drapes and the carpet. But the drapes were misshapen and hanging crooked with something poking them further into the room.
To my surprise the wind had sheared off one of the limbs from my faithful tree and caused it to crash right through the window. Okay, hear me out. Upon reflection I realized the Universe had been trying to help me; I just hadn't been listening. I vaguely remembered hearing scratching noises outside my window and I had dismissed the noise as one of the furry critters who inhabited my yard. I also recalled the gentle tapping I had also ignored not that long before the surprising limb through the window in the middle of a storm during the dark of night that tore me from my sleep and left me frantically running from my room grabbing my phone to start the game of phone a bestie.
The pebble in this case was the gentle swaying of the tree limb causing leaves to rub against the aluminum siding; a subtle warning the tree limb was too close to the house. Had a checked I would have seen this young branch was too thin to support the weight of the leaves. The rock that woke me the first time was the no longer so small branches tapping against the glass in a breeze startling me out of sleep and stirring curiosity in the dark of night. The brick? The whole damn limb crashing through the glass making me run for cover in the dark in the middle of a storm.
My friends, there are things the universe wants us to know and they will show up like the kid with a boyhood crush too timid to step forward throwing pebbles at our windows a night hoping against hope we will notice them. If we ignore this bid for attention the universe will provide us with bricks – those pebbles will become bigger and bigger, the size of a rock in a much louder bid for our attention. Finally, the universe can’t stand it anymore and must facilitate a situation we absolutely can not ignore. This my friends I what I call the brick. You may connect this to colored flags of a sort, which we also tend to ignore, which just may be the reason these flags are assigned colors which increasingly get attention.
I prefer the pebble, rock, brick theory. The phrasing reminds us of nature which is about the most splendid place to ground, right? And when we are grounded, we tend to be more present taking notice of the subtle signs we tend to ignore when we are out here flying around distracted from our environment and from ourselves! When we are grounded and present, we are better able to notice the subtleties around us, the quite little messages the Universe is sending to bring something to our attention. Staying grounded and present is the way we catch tree branches tapping on the window and night, limbs growing longer and longer until finally they may become the branch crashing through the window wreaking havoc. Friends, take a breath. Pay attention to the little things. Don’t wait for the brick. Trust me—sweeping up glass at 2 a.m. is not the vibe.
If you’re ready to get better at spotting life’s pebbles (and dodging its bricks), I’d love to help. Together, we can work on cultivating presence, tuning into your inner wisdom, and finding the calm in life’s chaos.
After all, the universe wants to help you; let’s make sure you don’t miss the message.

Schedule a virtual coffee if you’re curious about what working together could look like.
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