The butterfly effect

Have you ever had a sense of 'right timing'?  Or the sense of being in the right place at the right time but none of it making sense until that moment?  Only in that moment, in retrospect, does all the seemingly little or otherwise insignificant things that came before it suddenly make sense.  

Have you ever made a choice because you *knew* it was the right one, even if it was completely inconvenient, unplanned or out of character?  Even if your rational mind was trying to talk you out of it?  Were you surprised at where it led you?  Was it to exactly what you needed?  Perhaps without knowing it was what you needed until you were there?  

Every day we make hundreds of choices.  Some of them are conscious and deliberate.  Some are made without our conscious awareness.  In our lives, the choices we made range from the benign and insignificant to the tremendously profound and life changing ones.  Some we'd rather not have to make at all.  Some, are seemingly made for us.  Or are they?  

In the same vein, people come into and out of our lives in many ways.  Some are family members, with us for  life or at least for as long as we or they live.  Others are friends who may be with us for only a short time before the friendship changes and moves on, or they could be our BFF's, perhaps for a lifetime.  There are our teachers, our co-workers, the people on the bus or train or plane, the wait staff at our favorite restaurants the clerks at the stores we shop and the list goes on.  We have a relationship with each and every person we interact with.  

All of our choices impact the next ones.  As the butterfly effect illustrates.  A simple change can drastically alter the outcome.  The future.  Perhaps even your life.

Have you ever stopped and thought about how your actions impact another person?  Have you ever realized how their choices impact your feelings?  Your actions?  Your energy?  How do those relationships make you feel?  Do they nurture your soul?  Do they frustrate you?  Is there a lesson there for either/both of you?  

Sometimes, people come into our lives with a purpose beyond the obvious.  Maybe they will be the one who has the connection to the 'right' person for the right 'thing' or time.  Maybe they will be the one to help you learn and grow in ways you hadn't imagined.  Maybe they will be a catalyst for you to embrace your calling or make a necessary change.  

My life is full of these circumstances.  People who have had a profound impact on my life.  Who were able to give me tremendous gifts.  They were not necessarily gifts wrapped with ribbons and bows and happiness and love.  Some were gifts disguised as painful relationships, losses and challenge.  Others were amazing and full of love and light.  

I was blessed to have yet another experience of being led, through a series of completely unrelated experiences over the past few years, to not only exactly what I needed, but to a gift my husband and boys needed too.  We were all so blessed to have been led to this gift by whatever you might believe drives the gears of life.  It was all realized this weekend.  

I'm still processing it, for it was profound.  Once I get it to the point at which I can articulate it, I shall share.

Until then, the message is to be aware.  Know that every single person you interact with has information for you.  It may be via spoken word, a glance, an energetic exchange or an observation.  Know you have information for everyone you interact with.  Remember, you don't know why they are behaving or dressed the way they are anymore than they know that about you.  Don't pass judgment.  Just be present.  Be aware.  Be mindful.  Be open minded.  Just be.  

Oh, and listen to your intuition!