Bonjour Royal friends!
Welcome to my blog, a ‘tongue-in-chic’ happiness lifestyle guide from a funny princess point of view!
Today I’d like to talk to you about trusting the universe as your default setting.
Do you ever feel like something higher than yourself has a nose in helping you lead your best life? I do, and I invite you to develop that feeling, that intuition. I call it trusting the Universe.
For me, trusting the Universe means having the open-mindedness that allows me to interpret synchronistic events, serendipitous occurrences, and random wisdom sprinkled into my life as some mysterious guidance accruing for my good.
The key to having a “trust the Universe” default setting is to make an allowance for doubt. It is rare that ideas of faith have the watertight seal of a submarine hatch. As my friend Fanny used to say, “doubt is the sign of an intelligent mind.” The other key is to make an allowance for faith, too. After all, intuition is something you can feel, like an energy field that you can’t see but still makes your hair stand on end. The proof is in the frizz.
A most unlikely source of inspiration
As an adult, I embarked on the enchanting journey of horseback riding lessons. The decision to take riding lessons happened years ago on a day in a string of days that ran into months where I was feeling somewhat uninspired by my everyday work as an attorney. Don’t get me wrong, lawyering can take some creative chops, but not necissarily the kind of creative that makes your heart sing. More like problem-solving, issue-spotting creative. Not the origami-style unfolding of artistic spirt.
One day during this period of creative craving I was driving on a small side road near my home. As I was about to turn into my neighborhood, I spied a horse. Not just any horse, but a horse with a person on it. What’s a horse doing around my neighborhood? I felt an energy bolt of curiosity and youthful, spirited animation. Why a horse and its rider would evoke such emotion I don’t know; that’s part of the mystery. But I soon learned that a door had been opened and guidance had begun!
I received an overpowering inner notion to follow the horse and its rider to wherever they were going. A sense to act on this impulse that was so strong it was impossible to ignore.
I tailed the horse (pardon the pun) for about two miles when he and his rider headed into a lot that contained a barn, a riding ring, a field and a little white house. The ring was populated with a few elegant souls in riding jodhpurs and helmets. They had immaculate posture and assured manner, sitting astride horses of various colors as the large, glorious animals went through their paces.
My aha! moment
In that moment I had an epiphany, an “aha!” moment. Wouldn’t it be crazy fun if I got up the gumption to take riding lessons? Learning something new like horseback riding might be just the elixir for my inspirational funk!
I felt that my inner knowing was on a resonating frequency that plugged into the universal spirit. I had the notion that I was sensing a source of guidance pulling me to follow the horse which brought me to the barn to help me snap out of my inspirational drought. Just what the doctor ordered to nudge me back to my inspired self.
Yes, learning to ride a horse seemed to have all the elements of a regular funk buster! It was something new to learn, something exciting, physical exercise, and it had that snap-out-of-it component of being completely out of my comfort zone. And let’s not ignore the fact that the riding clothes are so cool!
Thrilling and scary at the same time
Snowflake, a beautiful, white creature with long eyelashes and a far away gaze was the horse my instructor chose for me. Snowflake was the perfect horse for a nervous, first-time rider. He was sweet, not too big, and long on the tooth. As an older, more mature horse, he had seen it all and wasn’t as likely to take his laughing advantage of a newbie learner. As in he wasn’t going to try and throw me just to see if he could.
Week after week I drove to the stables and let Snowflake teach me a thing or two. Week after week he walked around the ring while I learned the art of riding, which in the beginning was the art of keeping myself in the saddle.
“Heels down, heels down” in the stirrup, and “up down, up down” in the saddle to match Snowy’s rhythmic stride. I learned to hold the reins loosely, without tension, which made me crazy with fear because it felt like I was riding hands free. Which, by the way, was one of the later exercises! I thought you were supposed to use the reins to hold on! But little by little I acclimated. A regular princess cowgirl.
I was also learning the new language of horse speak and how to communicate with Snowy to walk, trot, stop and go, and slow down. It was exhilarating, this talking to the horse business.
I finally reached the thrilling point of learning to canter—just a tad faster than a trot, but not quite a gallop. After that, my instructor introduced me to the art of jumping over fences. Not super high fences, but still a jump. Oh, what an adventure that was! Out of my comfort zone adventure, but that was the point.
Being out of your comfort zone is one thing. Real fear, fleshy fear, is another. That’s what I felt one afternoon in winter during my lesson in the outdoor ring. It had snowed the night before and the ring had patches of snow and ice glistening like mischievous fairies. I wondered, was it really a good idea to ride in this weather?
I had reached a level of proficiency where my instructor had me cantering and jumping at every lesson. When I hopped up on the horse, I was quaking in my boots. I worried that going such speeds, my noble steed might slip and tumble.I told my instructor that I was afraid about the horse falling on the ice and me going down with him. Snowflake succumbing to the snowflake. But I had learned to trust my instructor. She never let me tackle next steps unless she knew I was ready. She had an uncanny knack to know how far to push, and what was too much. Even for the horse. She had every confidence in my ability to ride in these conditions, and she had every confidence in the horse as well. It’s what she said next that has remained with me forever.
The magic is in the metaphor
This is what my instructor said: “Let the horse take care of its footing; your job is to stay in the saddle.” I didn’t immediately catch the power and import of that statement until later. But I kept on with my lesson and Snowy and I were just fine. And it was invigorating to ride in the crisp air. I was grateful for my instructor’s encouragement to continue my lesson.
I realized later her words, “Let the horse take care of its footing; your job is to stay in the saddle” was a metaphor for trusting the universe. Trusting that you need only take care of what you have control over. The rest is up to the Universe. To the Divine. To Spirit. To G-d. Whatever words or ideas you have about the essence of things.
Those words became my mantra. In this magical dance, we are the riders, and the horse represents the Universe. Our task is to do our part, and then let go and trust that the universe will handle the rest. (N.B., in the case of horseback riding, not to literally let go. That would become a flying lesson.) Baughhh.
Off I went, embracing the ride and trusting that my majestic partner would find solid footing, which he did. Of course, common sense must “reign” supreme; if the ground were icy everywhere, my wise instructor wouldn’t have let me ride that day.
There’s a splendid saying that perfectly captures this balance of trust and common sense: “Trust in Allah but tie your camel to a post.” It reminds us that while we should trust the Universe, we must also do our part and be sensible.
My adventure began when I trusted a powerful intuition to follow a horse to a barn. It didn’t make any sense on a rational level, but it did when one learns to trust inner knowings that seem to come from other worldly promptings. The adventure led to my taking horseback riding lessons, which helped snap me out of the doldrum of self-imposed creative deprivation, and let in the warm rays of creative inspiration that were laying dormant in the dark. I trusted the universe, and it “jump” started a fabulously gratifying new side career as a writer.
I encourage you to trust in the universe to guide you to your next steps. Do you see a sign or signs to do something bold and new? Something that you feel is for your good (not for your demise?) Where do you think it might lead? Once you pull the cord, the curtain opens.
New Chicken Soup for the Soul book has more delicious stories on synchronicities and such
In Chicken Soup for the Soul-Miracles, Angels & Messages from Heaven, my “Heaven’s High Five in a Hotrod” story illustrates how such trust manifests in extraordinary ways, reaffirming that signs from the universe can appear when we least expect them. There are many other incredible stories from other authors too that I know you will love.
Royally yours with love,
Princess Diane Von Brainisfried
x♥x♥x♥,
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Dame Diane Uniman, Aka Princess Diane von Brainisfried, is an attorney turned motivational speaker, certified positive psychology life coach and award-winning writer. She wrote Bonjour, Breast Cancer-I’m Still Smiling…Wit, Wisdom, and Optimism for Beating the Breast Cancer Blues.