While driving my youngest to school last week, I noticed a very agitated driver enter the lane behind me. Huffing and puffing and wheel gripped tight, he made a dramatic show of his annoyance with every pause and stop we came to in the road. I stayed patient, breathing through the beeps of his horn while doing my best to keep space between his bumper and mine.

Now, this drivers car was considerably smaller than my own. He couldn't see around me or over me. My back window is tinted, and I knew he wouldn’t be see through me. From his perspective, he couldn't see the little girl emerging from the side street. He couldn't see her cheeks stained pink from the hustle of a fast-paced Friday morning. Or her My Little Pony bag dancing on shoulder with every step she took. He couldn't see her braids swinging in her movement. This driver was too busy being locked in the red zone. The only thing he could see was my car standing in his way.

His problem is our problem.

We rush around just as he did, blind in our own perception. We're trained to be so hyper-focused on the end goal that we forget to step back to see the bigger picture and consider how we are affecting others along the way. On this particular morning, I wasn't a mother driving her six-year-old son to school. I wasn't a wife or sister. I wasn't an artist or aspiring writer. I wasn't even a person. I was a blue sedan driving the speed limit on a two-lane street.

The driver behind me couldn't wait. I watched his mouth explode as he shifted from my rear-view mirror to my peripheral vision. I laid on the horn in a warning and it wasn't until he turned to look at me that he actually saw what I was stopping for. He swerved at the last minute, riding up on the curb of the opposite street. He wasn't even two inches from hitting her. Her hair moved— that's how close he was, braking only for a moment before taking off again.

I spent a long time reflecting on this experience. I could easily apply his situation to my own and objectively look at where I need to just slow down and observe others for a moment. How many times have I chosen to focus on my own arguments rather than to accept the viewpoint of another? How many times have I become so focused on going one way that I completely missed seeing a better route available? How many times had I hurt another because I couldn't shift away from my own opinions?

Alone, we cannot see it all. At some point, we have to put our trust in another, be it a friend, in Spirit, a teacher, the Universe, or even just the car ahead. At some point, we have to relinquish our need to control an outcome and learn to surrender to the obstacles that come our way. The only thing stopping us from experiencing our lives differently is the way we choose to perceive how life happens to us.

Who you are, your choices and your personality are reflections of your environment. Your choices shape your experiences. Your perception shapes your choices. Sometimes the only way out is to go up. To witness your world with eyes clear of the fog, ears free from the whispered opinion, the air clean from the energy of the familiar. Sometimes the only way we rise is by accepting the help of others. Don't be afraid to seek help outside of yourself. We can get so focused on just reaching the destination that it takes another to remind us there is much joy, and help, to be had in sharing the ride.

Vroom-vroom.
-Jamie Homeister
 

“If this life were a dream, how would you shape it? If you could have the potential to make it anything; to be anyone; to go anywhere, how would you do it?

Limits and ceilings are all self-imposed. For the majority of us, "I can't" is really just an "I won't", for if your will is able and your health is strong, social, mental, and physical limitations are not end caps, they are stepping stones.

Our thoughts and attitude are the only thing stopping us from achieving/gaining/being what we desire. You shape your own reality. You create your own experiences. The words your mind thinks become the house your heart lives in. If you're not living in a way that makes you happy then change the way you live.”

Spirit Channel through Jamie Homeister

"Setting fire to the hearts of passion, the thunder of reason begins to roar through the clouds that made nest in the heads of the weary.

Many of you have been fighting wars within yourselves asking, 'Do I face the dream, or dare I face the consequences?' What if we were to tell you that making a choice does not create separation from the two?

There are no dreams manifested without consequence, nor do you waste moments spent on dreaming alone. There is a fine line between the two that can be danced, but its steps are learned only through participation. You are not faulted for sitting out, but you do miss the opportunity to practice. That is the only true consequence that we can see."

Spirit Channel through Jamie Homeister

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I am the queen of inaction. My ideas must first meet some extreme criteria of perfection for me to actually begin them, so you can only imagine how many have met any real sort of effort on my part. I recently spoke about this when I recounted my experience with 'The Isle of the Forgotten'. I still hold that somber image of wasted ideas in my heart. Even still, I know I that I continue to put aside my dreams but darn it— taking action can be just so damn difficult!

If you've ever had a fresh opportunity or idea, you know what I'm talking about. It often appears out of nowhere, like an out of your league dance partner with a rose in-between their teeth. The invitation comes at us with such excitement we're taken aback; the Universe is so happy to offer us 'the thing'. Truly! It saw us standing there and thought us worthy, so it asked us,"will you take this chance with me?"

And there are many of us who fiddle with our sleeves and toe the ground awkwardly weighing the pros and cons of it all. "But I've never danced to this song," we think. "Why did they pick me? Is this a trick? A test? Will I fall flat on my face? Will I step on their toes? I could make a huge fool of myself — Oh God — I don't want to make a fool of myself!" How very quickly our questions can override the joy of it all.

Instead, we give a little wave our hand and say, "No thank you, I'm just going to sit this one out." And secretly hope that they will come back in a few moments and ask us again when we're more expectant of the offer, or when the tune is a little more familiar. But will they?

How many times have we said 'no' to someone or something when we really wanted to say 'yes'? I hope you can answer never, just as I hope you never choose to stand with your back against the wall because let me tell you, the universe will not wait for you. These offers expire. There are a hundred million souls out there who are all ready to access that same dream you were gifted with and half of them won't hesitate if they're asked to take the floor.

Success is never guaranteed, but we'll get a hell of a lot closer to it by taking even the smallest of actions forward than we will without. A step learned is a step earned and it's one less that you have to master. And I, for one, am tired of being a wallflower. If you're taking the time to read this, I imagine you are, too.

So this week, let us consider ourselves challenged to say 'yes.' Let us act on something and do something that we might ordinarily be very frightened of. Let us step away from the sidelines; rise out of our boxes! Allow yourself to see what comes of it. I'll do it with you and I'll post about it. I'm sure it will be ridiculous— but so what?! At least we will have tried and you won't be in it alone.

Eyes open, loves.
Hearts aware.

"There are many ways in which we interpret the signs of life around us. Symbols are used by every earth walker as cues to direct and redirect your pathways and navigate through the infrastructure of choice that shapes your world. Do you stop to consider what signs and signals you're sending to others? To the universe at large?

If your thoughts are responsible for creating your reality, what you think to be true about yourself and others shapes the way you experience this dream. Consider for a moment the power of manifestation that your words hold.

To combine thought with voice connects two extraordinary gifts you possess. Like striking a match to a flame, what you speak becomes 'what is,' even if that's only subjective to the internal experience.

We can see nothing more significant to your life than your clarity of feelings. So to get ahead, to move away from the familiar rut in the road, doesn't it make sense to start there? To start changing how you perceive what's around you? To start defining how you feel and why?

The way you think shapes the way you speak.
The way you speak attracts what you experience.
What you experience influences the way you think.
Do you see this loop here? Do you see how much power you truly hold?"

Spirit Channel through Jamie Homeister