ISSUE 39 - The Universe Meets You in Motion

Many times in our lives, when uncertainty hits, we ask for signs.  What direction should I move?  Where am I supposed to go?  What decision should I make?  Standing in uncertainty can be extremely uncomfortable, which is why so many people never make the initial move forward or change out of something, even when they know something different may be better for them.

But I think there is something interesting in the fact that we are constantly asking where to move when movement is something we were born knowing how to do.  Everything in our bodies moves. Our hearts beat. Our lungs expand. Blood circulates. Cells regenerate. Our entire physical existence is built around movement.

And I believe our relationship with God, the universe, source, whatever language feels true for you, works in a similar way.  The universe is constantly co-creating with us, but co-creation requires participation.  We can ask for the sign. We can ask for direction. We can ask for clarity. But at some point, an initial movement has to come from us.  Sometimes that movement is small.  Taking a walk.  Accepting an invitation.  Going outside and connecting with nature.  Dancing in your kitchen.  Saying yes to something that feels aligned even when you don’t know exactly where it will lead.  Your movement sets something into motion.

And as your body becomes more open, receptive, and regulated, I believe you become more capable of receiving the information that comes back.  So maybe the first move is within you.

For months, Manifest in Motion has been partnered with Kai, bringing Studio to Shore to life. This past week, an unexpected opportunity opened for Manifest in Motion to step into their grand opening weekend in a more visible way.  It wasn’t something I had spent weeks planning every detail around.  It was simply an opening.  And then there was a decision, am I willing to move toward it?

I think this is often how life works.  We ask the universe to show us where to go, imagining the answer will arrive as complete certainty or a perfectly mapped-out plan.   But sometimes the answer looks like an invitation.  A conversation.  An unexpected opening.  A door that appears before you feel completely prepared to walk through it.  And then you get to decide whether you are willing to move.  I chose to move.

This past week, Manifest in Motion showed up in person in a different way. Not just behind a screen. Not only in a building phase. Not just as an idea I had been developing privately.  I was standing there talking about it.  And there is something incredibly powerful about bringing something you have been building into a physical room.

You receive instant feedback. You connect with people’s energy. You see what resonates and what doesn’t. People get to see the person behind the brand and begin to understand why it was built.  That kind of connection is priceless.

There is also something almost magnetic that can happen when like minded people enter the same space.  One conversation leads to another.  Someone introduces you to someone else.  A connection turns into an idea.  An idea becomes an invitation.  Opportunities begin appearing that you could never have completely planned from behind a screen.

It is funny how God can place people into your life and how the universe can seemingly orchestrate connections behind the scenes in ways you never could have predicted.  But the key is still movement.  Without expanding into new rooms, around new faces, without allowing yourself to be seen, there are connections you simply would never have the opportunity to make.

Movement creates proximity.  Proximity creates connection.  Connection creates possibility.  And possibility gives you new information about where to move next.

When you choose to move into those spaces, I think you are making a statement with your energy… I am willing to expand.  I am willing to be seen.  I am willing to move.  I am ready to participate in what comes next.  And sometimes the universe responds beautifully, with connection, alignment, conversations, and opportunities.

Looking back four years ago, at the beginning of trying to find my way back to myself, I could never have imagined this moment.  A moment of confidence.  A moment of being able to speak about something I had built from my own lived experience.  A moment of feeling proud of where my body was in that moment and how far it had carried me.  There were so many layers I had to peel back to get there.  Protective mechanisms that had once served a purpose.  Ways my body had learned to keep me alert, guarded, and prepared.  Things that helped me protect myself and my children during certain seasons of my life but were no longer beneficial for the expansion, visibility, and openness required for the life I was moving into.

All of these are things I have practiced, and continue to practice, daily.  Moving my body.  Regulating myself.  Healing what cannot come with me.  Expanding my capacity.  Allowing myself to become excited about what may be coming next without needing to know every detail of how it will unfold.

Because the interesting thing is that your mind can know exactly what it wants, or at least know the direction it wants to go in, but your body has to come with you.  Your body has to be able to hold the capacity for what you are asking for.  The visibility.  The opportunities.  The unpredictability.  The expansion.  The unknown.  Sometimes we think readiness means having everything perfectly prepared.  But I am beginning to believe readiness can look different.

Maybe readiness is having built enough trust within yourself that when an aligned opening appears, uncertainty does not automatically make you retreat.  Maybe readiness is having enough regulation to respond when the opportunity arrives.

It can be difficult to create something behind the scenes while holding a huge vision for your life and looking around at a current reality that does not yet reflect it.  There is a space between knowing what you feel called toward and physically seeing it in front of you.  A space between believing and receiving.  Between who you have been and who you are becoming.  And that space can be incredibly uncomfortable.

But movement helps us stay inside it.  Moving your body daily into more expansive energy can help you continue calling something forward while also learning how to stand inside the unknown.  Not frantic movement.  Not movement because you are trying to force an outcome.  Intentional movement.

Movement that gives your emotions somewhere to go.  Movement that brings you back into your body.  Movement that reminds your nervous system that uncertainty does not automatically mean danger.  Movement that helps your physical body develop the capacity to hold the life your mind and soul are reaching toward.

And when you move, you get feedback.  With that feedback, you can take directional, aligned action.  Sometimes the feedback feels like confirmation, an opportunity, connection and sometimes it is uncomfortable.

Sometimes the feedback tells you something isn’t aligned, something needs to change, or there is a pivot you need to make.  That doesn’t mean the movement was wrong.  It means you have more information than you had before you moved.

You move.  You receive feedback.  You adjust.  You move again.  That is co-creation.

I don’t believe we were placed in these human bodies simply to visualize a life from our minds and wait for it to arrive.  We are here to participate.  Our physical bodies and our souls are meant to move through this life together.

The more connected and aligned we become within our physical bodies, the more available we become to listen, to our intuition, our hearts, God, the universe, source, and to recognize the direction that may be unfolding in front of us.

Maybe there is a vision available for your life that is far greater than anything you could conceptualize from where you are standing today.  But I don’t believe it is a one-sided journey.  It is a co-creative experience.  It requires listening.  It requires trust.  And it requires movement.

This weekend reminded me that we can spend so much time asking for the sign that we forget something, Sometimes the sign comes after you move.

The universe can open the door.  But we still have to walk through it.