When Life Hands You Lemons...
Finding Sweetness in the Shifts
Every three-to-six months, I see a local friend who’s an astrologist for a transit reading. It’s a check-in with myself to make sure that I’m aligned, and it especially helps to keep me on track with my business(es).
Ironically, this astrologist friend lives a few doors down from my former home, but I didn’t know this until after I moved. I also didn’t know that I’d be greeted with familiar faces when I walked through the front door of her house. Their German Shepherd recognized me immediately, rolling over for belly rubs and kisses like an old friend (“she never does this!”), and sure enough, her husband is the neighbor I would greet whenever they rounded a corner on one of their daily walks.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s been my experience that life can be pretty synchronistic like this…
My first reading with her was a magical hour of connecting with someone who feels like a new member of my soul-guidance team, and the chart reading she gave me confirmed what I’d been experiencing both intuitively and physically. I felt more confident than ever that everything happening in my life was for a purpose and that what I’m creating is in soul-alignment. Even my current work and those dreams still held in the secret space of my heart seem written in the stars.
This is the blessing of astrology—it’s not meant to determine your fate for you but to help you navigate your choices in alignment with heart and soul.
I’ve used this guidance to help me level-up in so many places in my life, especially when it comes to my health. Still in recovery from Chronic Lyme disease, I made my health a top priority the past few years with a new naturopath and a personal trainer whose focus is on energetics and intuitive fitness. I can’t explain what a blessing it was to work with my personal trainer—not only were our weekly discussions soul-nourishing, but she supplied me with a lifetime of tools and daily movements to help my body feel better in a way that’s suited for my situation.
Since last fall, I’ve kicked my focus on my health up a notch, determined to change my life for a healthier work-life balance. I bought a walking pad for some extra movement between tarot readings and guidance sessions. I planted my first vegetable garden, changed my nutrition habits, and began enjoying cooking nourishing meals. I added in new supplements to support my naturally aging body, studied homeopathy and began working with a certified homeopath (a long-time client) for lingering Lyme symptoms, and have returned to ancient daily rituals mixed with modern-day practices. I’m not seeing much of a difference yet when it comes to my appearance, which can be frustrating, but the difference in the way I feel is everything.
Most importantly, in changing the way I live my life, I’ve transformed in who I am.
Gone are the days of people-pleasing and proving. Gone are the days of hustle and sacrifice. Here are the days of balancing my passion for my work and the joys of life.
To change your life, you have to start to become who you want to be in even the smallest ways. Who would you be if you had everything? What would you be doing? How would you feel?
I embody this as much as possible now—morning tea, a chapter of a book before bed, creating a sense of discipline and structure for my writing and my spiritual business. I upgraded my wardrobe from the sweatpants and tank tops I wore when I was bedridden to a few staple dresses and nice pants and, well, more tank tops. I replaced my sagging mattress of twenty years with a new mattress and bedding to enhance my comfort and quality of sleep.
And I’m saying yes a lot more when I feel called to…
Yes to concerts in the park and trivia nights and dinners with my beloved friends.
Yes to solo road trips and Sunday drives and stopping by roadside stands for fresh produce or homemade ice cream.
Yes to booking that train ticket, seeing that show, going to that museum.
The experiences are what matter to me.
Who I’m doing them with—family or friends or in the welcomed company of myself—matters more.
I love my life, and I love who I’ve become and continue to embody in this new way of being…
So when my astrologist said that Uranus in my 6th house might be disrupting my daily routine beginning in July, I could only stare dumbfounded at her—and a little annoyed at the Universe, if I want to be completely honest. Because not only had I finally found a balance of intuitive flow and structure that works for me, how much more can my life change?
(Again.)
Cue several appointments to the vet with my furbaby, Moxie. She’ll be turning 12 this year, and you wouldn’t know it by her eating or her playful nature or the love she gives. But I can see it in the white of her face and paws, and I notice it when she struggles to climb the stairs at night.
We’re all getting older. Time is moving too quickly, and sometimes I just want to push the pause button and bottle up these moments and hold them close to my heart as I savor them, imprint them on my memory.
Buddhists value the idea of impermanence—that everything is in a constant state of change. I never liked this. There are some moments that I wish, for once, could always stay as they are.
But I also know that’s not life.
I had an English teacher I loved in the 9th grade. Ms. Weston. We were studying Dante’s Inferno and discussing the circles of hell. She asked why the ninth circle was frozen—it’s supposed to be hell, after all. You know, fire and brimstone and all that.
No one answered, and I was so shy at the time, I almost didn’t either. But then something urged me to raise my hand.
Without water, there’s no life, I said. That’s what the ice represented. The water is frozen, and they’re stuck. There’s no movement, no flow, no warmth. We’re made of water. We’re made for life.
I’ll never forget the way my teacher’s eyes lit up, and the passion with which she continued the discussion. It was like, in that moment, she gave me permission to follow my passion for books, for writing, for life, too.
Still, there are moments I want to pause so they last forever, memories I want to keep fresh in my mind a little longer…
Like my time with my dog, Moxie.
Last week, I loaded the car with her bed and pillows and blankets and drove an hour and a half to a new holistic vet for a second opinion and consideration of other solutions to help with some issues she’s been having. My goal is and always has been quality of life over longevity, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go anytime soon.
Armed with supplements and studies, I left the practice feeling so at peace and relieved—relieved that I followed my intuition and relieved that my baby girl still has time with me.
And now I know what that Uranus in the 6th house disruption is all about. It wasn’t just my daily routine and care for my own health that has changed, but also that of my pets. Because now I’m waking up every morning to feed Moxie a breakfast mix of freshly-made food (so long, kibble!), tinctures, homeopathy, and supplements. And every evening, she lets me know she’s ready for seconds.
I’m on the threshold of a new-life balance now… again.
But you know what? I know where we’ve been. And I know what we’re creating.
And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.