Reading the signs

Stock photo from Nuts Online.

Sometimes living soulfully is not about doing things any differently but about seeing things differently.  

I looked in my purse a couple of days ago and discovered that the lid to a bottle of medicine had popped off, spilling the little tablets all over my purse.  It struck me suddenly that something similar had happened yesterday as well.  A container of dark chocolate covered raisins (yum!) had opened in my backpack, emptying its contents all over the bag.  Most of the time, we’re inclined to view this sort of coincidence as a simple inconvenience.  However, from a symbolic and soulful point of view, these synchronistic events can have a different meaning.

Let’s look at these two events with different eyes, eyes that read the events on a more symbolic level:  On the second and third days of a brand new year, something in the dark places I carry around with me has opened up.  The words that came into my head when I started to make the connection were:

Eruption

Emergence

Uncontained

Contents Under Pressure

Opening

It's Time

Overflowing Vessel

I’m Ready

Spilling Over

Burst Container

Energy

Matter

What Matters

This brings something new in its wake….

Medicine and sweetness.  Something that heals, and something that rewards.  These are the potentials for this new year.  Something is waiting to burst from me, to emerge from my depths and darknesses.  Something in me will be contained no longer.  If 2009 was a year of great wounding to accompany great love, this seems to imply that 2010 will bring healing.  In another synchronistic event, I just finished writing a short story to explain the background of a character I’m playing in a fantasy role-playing game (click here to read it).  The character has magical powers that she is just beginning to explore.  They erupt from her unexpectedly. 

This is one way that we can view life soulfully.  Carl Jung talked about looking at our lives as if one is interpreting a dream.  If this is the case, then this dream could be my soul speaking to me, and telling me the good news that something is about to overflow in my life, something healing and rewarding.  But I have to have eyes to see it.  

How would we view our lives as if they are dreams?  How would we interpret the images that surround us each day in a soulful way?  Can this process help us to bring wonder, perspective, and meaning to the events in our lives?  I think it can.

I walked through Golden Gate Park and saw people swing dancing on a bridge.  

I was walking my dog at night and the moon was covered by a light layer of clouds.  I crossed a bridge and heard a splash.  A lone duck was swimming in the creek in the dark.  

What are some of your real-life images that might hold this kind of meaning for you?  What might they say about what is coming into or leaving your life?  Please feel free to share your experiences.