When we Know Better, we do Better.

Everything was beautiful. I was flowing through life. I was enjoying my life. It felt so good, and I felt more alive than I’ve felt in a while. It was Julie Andrews singing and running through the Alps level of alive. I was loving life. Then I was placed in a challenging situation that tested me.

At first, I didn’t know what was happening, but once I got out of my head and stopped overthinking, I knew I was being tested. My emotional and energetic resilience was being tested. My intuition confirmed it strongly for me, and I twiggled at Costco on Saturday morning.

While waiting for the train to go to Costco, I became anxious of the people around me. I was on high alert and my body was tense. I did what we women do in that situation. I kept aware of my surroundings; my head was on a swivel. The train tracks were in front of me, and I made sure that I was aware of what was behind me. The train arrived, I boarded, and felt safer. But that was only the initial spark of what was to come.

The train is a place where spirit and I like to work, and this trip was no different. After a short while of overthinking, I started analyzing the emotions and energy of the situation at the train station. It wasn’t my energy. I was picking up energy from the environment and the people. I was carrying other people’s anxiety, fear, hopelessness. It felt awful. I had to let it go.

I began releasing the energy with intention, but it wasn’t enough. I invited Spirit to release the energy for me. That helped. My body began to release the tension that had built up at the train station. By the time I got to Costco, I knew my emotional and energetic resilience was being tested and my intuition confirmed it with a twiggle.

I knew then that there was more work to be done. Part of it was to settle back into my own energy…in Costco on Saturday morning. It was a challenging task for my sensitive and introverted self, but I know how to do this. So, while I was looking for strawberries and salads, I was releasing judgement and affirming compassion. And while selecting “free and clear” laundry detergent, I was reminded to be gentle with myself. And while moving through the crowds only to find very short checkout lines, I expressed gratitude.

Once home, there was more work to be done. I found myself taking out anger and rage on a kitchen wrap package that was stuck and not allowing the drawer to open. I pulled and tore at the package to dislodge it from the drawer, trying not to scream. After freeing it, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. A few moments later, I put the battered package back together with tape and staples and relocated it to the pantry and away from the drawer. I then acknowledged the releasing of the anger and rage. Even though in the moment it felt like an irrational response, releasing those intense emotions felt so good.

Throughout the day, I received numerical synchronicities with messages of alignment. I stopped and asked if the anger and rage was in alignment with my soul. My intuition answered “yes” with a twiggle. I thought about it for a while and received understanding. The anger and rage were authentic emotions that needed to be expressed and released, and that was in alignment with my soul path. Who knew that raging at kitchen wrap could or would be in alignment? Not me, but my Aries Sun is happy for this wisdom.

Later that day, I realized how short this test was, this cycle of growth. I had entered it, acknowledged it, and released it within hours. I’ve become faster at turning these tests into wisdom. They used to take weeks. I’d suffer through them and grow slowly, but I’ve matured emotionally and spiritually. I now recognize the growth opportunities more quickly and move through them with wisdom and experience. I guess that’s why my spirit animal is the grasshopper. I never miss an opportunity for growth.

I love that our personal and spiritual growth builds upon itself. These cycles of growth and change become easier, and faster with wisdom and experience. We learn to move through them with greater wisdom as it becomes available to us. It’s likely why our spiritual awakenings pick up speed as we navigate them. When we know better, we do better.

Maya Angelou is credited with saying, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” That sums up growth nicely. It can happen anywhere, anytime, and it is nothing more than knowing better and doing better. Growth doesn’t happen when we are blissfully prancing on mountain tops, but sometimes it happens on a Saturday at Costco.

The image today was made in Canva.

I’m grateful you’re here. I love you.

Be well,

Nikki