The Key to Asking the Universe for Help? Learning How to Listen.
By: Susan Moe
Tags: Synchronicity, Spiritual Growth, Personal Growth, The Universe, Gratitude

Photo by Aperture Vintage on Unsplash

For the past few days, I’ve been wondering, “What should I write about this week?” I even asked my cerebral husband. He had some ideas, but nothing clicked. Finally, I asked for guidance from the Universe.



You can call the force beating our hearts, breathing our lungs, and growing the grass whatever suits you — God, Gaia, Life Force Energy, your Guides, or even Gloria. The name doesn’t matter.



For simplicity’s sake, let’s call it the Universe. I asked the Universe, “What should I write about this week?”



Radio silence.



My brain, on the other hand, had loads of thoughts. They felt like fireworks shooting off inside my head — one after the other, fired off before the smoke cleared from the prior!

Just skip a week, no one will notice…

What can you say that hasn’t already been said by countless others?!!?

Why are you even writing these posts?!

You’re wasting your time!

You should get a real job!

On and on and on…

My mind continued to berate me this morning as I walked to our local farmer’s market. It’s not an obvious or brazen bully. That would have been too easy to stop. It’s more cunning. It’s the running tape, almost imperceptible, looping on replay in the recesses of my mind.



I consciously looked to gratitude for relief.



I am lucky to have this so-called “problem”. It’s a glorious morning; I have an awesome family; I live in Santa Barbara for crying out loud!

AND…I could still hear my mind whispering its negative rant. That’s duality. Both grateful AND doubtful as I tried to tip the teeter-totter toward gratitude.



As lady luck, or the Universe, would conspire, I “happened” to run into some friends who were also walking to the market.



As we caught up, I learned one of them had just sold his business and was trying to figure out his next steps. He told me his dream was to become a sports trainer for kids and maybe a personal trainer for adults.



Without missing a beat, he said…



The thing is, I don’t have a license or certificate.

Also, there are already so many gyms and personal trainers.



I knew his brain was sending him an onslaught of doubts and fears, like Darth Vader trying to coerce Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side.



This guy loves training, coaching, sports. He’s passionate about all things athletic! When he talked about his idea, I could see his energy light up and glow, but you didn’t need to be psychic to feel his excitement.



I shared some insights. He smiled and said, “Thank you. That really helped.”



The Universe brought us together at that very moment. I have just arrived home with my vegetables, and this post flowed with ease.



PS I normally go to the market later in the morning so if I’d gone at my normal time, I would have missed this exchange.



PPS My other friend, who normally drives home my heavy bags of produce, texted me as I was walking and said she was at the market early due to a conflict later in the morning. We “happened” to be there at the same time and she drove my heavy bags home. These “coincidences” felt like the Universe wanted it to be crystal clear that my plea was indeed being answered.



The cool thing is that the Universe doesn’t care if you’re asking for help on writing inspiration, a job search, school choice, who to date, or even what to wear. There is no hierarchy in requests or responses. Practice asking on the little things so you’re ready for the big ones. The trick, of course, is learning how to listen.