When The Universe Winks: Growing From Life's Lessons

How often do we allow ourselves to ignore our intuition, building walls of limiting beliefs to shield us from uncomfortable truths? Join me, Lisa Hopkins, as I recount a profoundly unsettling event that challenged the very fabric of my perceived reality. Through a reflective journey marked by mundane but metaphorically rich experiences—like a grocery store trip and the unexpected purchase of Ziploc bags—I uncover powerful lessons the universe subtly offered me. This episode is an introspective deep dive into the ways we navigate life's unexpected twists and turns, and how staying open to these lessons can catalyze transformative change.

Listen as I share how this life-altering moment forced me to reconsider the stories I've been telling myself for years. By examining the nuances of everyday interactions and the irony embedded within them, I find glimmers of wisdom that have begun to emerge. Whether you're grappling with your own limiting beliefs or curious about the universe's cryptic communications, this episode will urge you to look beyond the surface and embrace the learning opportunities hidden in plain sight. Stay safe, healthy, and always remember to live in the moment.

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Transcript

Lisa Hopkins: 0:23

Hey there, recently something happened in my life that even in my wildest of dreams I wouldn't have worried about, because it seemed so impossible. And although it terrifies me in this moment as it stares me right in the face, had you asked me if I ever worried it might happen, I'd have told you that I wouldn't ever have considered it as something to be afraid of. Primitive instinct maybe, but never a conscious fear, although it happened in the mortal world just a few weeks ago. It was years ago that I already knew it deeply in my soul but chose not to listen to my inner knowing, especially since it hadn't yet materialized. And so I birthed a powerful limiting belief instead, one that believed that what my intuition was telling me wasn't true. And then I went about living my life accordingly through. And then I went about living my life accordingly. Now I know you're likely conjuring all sorts of scenarios about what it might have been that happened to me. We do that when we don't have all the facts, but the details of the story are never as important as the insight gained through reflection. Just as I do in coaching, I don't coach my client's story. I listen more deeply to what stories they're telling themselves and boy, oh boy, had I been telling myself a story for a very, very long time. It's only today, after spending some processing, after spending some processing, that a glimmer of learning is beginning to emerge. Often the universe offers us a lesson that we don't see at first, and sometimes we miss them all together. I'm still in the classroom of my own consciousness on this one, but there is something that bears looking at. That seems cryptic at best, but maybe we can unpack something here.

Lisa Hopkins: 2:33

So around the time that this all happened, I found myself at the grocery store trying to focus. I was distracted and distraught and trying to do something ordinary that might take my mind off of how I was feeling. That might take my mind off of how I was feeling when I was checking out the cashier, who I'm usually light and breezy with and enjoy practicing my French. She smiled at me and said Bonjour, ça va. I blurted out. It's been a real shit show of a week. Or when I got home and was putting away the groceries, I wondered how on earth I had remembered that we needed Ziploc bags. I rarely buy them maybe once or twice a year and it's never something I'd remember unless I wrote it on a list. But for whatever reason, that day, in all my malaise, I had remembered. It really struck me and I almost even smiled because I realized the universe was winking at me. Do you remember when I said often the universe offers us lessons that we don't see at first and sometimes we miss them altogether?

Lisa Hopkins: 3:48

All the Ziploc bags were a lesson, delivered in a metaphor. Ziploc bags are used to keep things in, like a limiting belief. They lock in things that aren't finished, things that we want to keep healthy and alive and palatable so that we might enjoy them as long as we can. I had locked my limiting belief inside, trying as hard as I could to keep it fresh and alive, to not be contaminated by other things that threatened to spoil it. I was protecting my false truth because what my intuition knew all those years ago was simply too hard to bear.

Lisa Hopkins: 4:41

Isn't it ironic that we ran out of the Ziploc bags just as the terrifying truth came to light? There's a lesson here, to be sure, although I'm still very much the student in this moment. And as for whether or not the lesson is in the irony, as Alanis Morissette sings in her song Ironic life has a funny way of sneaking up on you. Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out. I'm Lisa Hopkins. Thanks so much for listening. Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the moment.