We All Need a Little Push Now & Then

I received a lovely gift today from a dear friend of mine. It's a little pillow for my counseling area that says, "We all need a little push now & then." How true it is.

Going back to the experience of birth... where would be if our mothers had refused to push at the critical moment! our very beginnings begin with a push into the physical realm of life! I believe that sets the precedent for how many 'new beginnings' will occur throughout our lifetime.

Some baby birds will not willingly take flight from the nest on their own volition. Sometimes they have to be nudged out by a parent. They simply wouldn't be willing to take that first flight on their own. Once they are nudged, instinct takes over and they take flight and soar into a glorious new freedom.

We humans can be the same in our earthly endeavors. We might prepare and prepare again for some new task or experience, but hesitate to dive fully into it. Often we get caught in the 'paralysis of analysis' and simply stop ourselves cold.

Fear, anxiety, uncertainty, bad experiences of the past and many other internal states of mind and emotion can render us unwilling or incapable of doing what we want to do, or know we need to do.

Sometimes God, or the universe, has to give us a gentle (and sometimes a not-so-gentle) shove into the unknown. Basically, we get the spiritual 2x4 upside the head, or, in other words, something happens in our life where we can no longer avoid the issue and we are forced to face it and deal with it.

On a trip to Reno a few years ago, I was on my way into Harrah's Casino. They have a large revolving door. It has a motion detector that initiates the revolution process when you get close to entering one of the segments of the door. In past trips, I had noticed that once inside the door compartment, a message would repeat over and over again. "Please move forward." The message was intended to keep the door moving. Because it senses motion, if you stop moving, the door stops moving and you would be stuck inside (well, at least until you start moving again!) On this one particular day, I was a good 30 feet away from the door, which was still at the moment, and the recording was blaring, really loud, "PLEASE.... MOVE FORWARD. PLEASE MOVE FORWARD. PLEASE MOVE FORWARD," over and over and over again. I started chuckling, because I believe it was the universe telling me "GIRL... you are STUCK! Get your rear in gear and MOVE FORWARD!" I did my best to heed the advice and move myself forward in a number of areas of my life.

As a counselor, it is often my job to nudge people into new territory, both within their lives and within themselves. It's a sacred job to help another person move into those new experiences and states of being.

Most often, we don't like it much when we are 'pushed' into dealing with or facing a situation in our lives that we are doing our best to avoid. In the long run, however, we are best served by taking a deep breath and moving FORWARD!

Got an area where you need a little push? Can you administer the push yourself? If not... be ready, because the universe is probably going to do it for you eventually. It might be more gentle if you find a way to motivate yourself first!

My new little pillow will greet my clients from now on. Hopefully it will be a reminder to them (and me) to embrace the push! :)