When Our Loved Ones Nudge Us to Follow Our Soul’s Path

Our Loved Ones AND our Guardian Angels, God, Divine Intelligence, Christ, Christ-Energy, Spirit, whatever you wish to call that spark, that nudge that pushes you in the direction of your purpose and your passion—that’s what I'm talking about here! How can we not only recognize it, but utilize it, to realize our full potential? When we first recognize the sign that is happening right in front of us, and then we use that sign or symbol as guidance from beyond to push us forward there is fear. At times, it would be so much simpler and safer to ignore it and stay hidden. 

I'm hoping this article will show you how I personally utilize this guidance every day as a second pair of eyes, affirmation, and validation. This is how I know what I am doing is worthwhile, needed, and helps those who have lost a loved one find a more uplifting way to navigate their loss—and find the joy hidden in the pain of grief. These are the signs, associations, and affirmations I need because I am fully aware that what I have been called to do is unorthodox. I get calls, almost daily, asking me to come back to the familiar and comforting cold arms of Big Pharma. Oh, how there are days this sounds so nice, normal, and sane. I wasn't given the suicide deaths, however, to live in normalcy. In fact, I know so.

I was scoping out venues for my 2020 lecture series, and I was preparing to promote my September 2020 retreat, Mothers Who Have Lost a Child to Death, in Ghost Ranch, Northern New Mexico. I thought to myself: somewhere warm would be nice. I have friends in Scottsdale. I could wrap a talk around a visit.

I Googled "small theaters in Scottsdale" and found the perfect venue. The best assistant, ever, Andrea Ringer, asked, "Angie, how did you ever find that place? I'm not finding it anywhere?" Hmmmmmm, I thought, That’s strange. The Foothills Community Foundation just popped up for me? When I looked again, sure enough, I couldn't find it anywhere either.

My lectures are usually conducted in small theaters, and normally I would have just continued my search with not even a second glance. I thought it odd, too, that this location popped up first for me but not for anyone else. Something pushed me to continue to scope it out.

Armed with the director of the theater’s contact name (Jennifer) and email address, I sent her all of the information about my lecture. I wrote that online I just felt pulled towards her location: https://www.azfcf.org.  Jennifer also wondered how I had found their site but was delighted that I did. I received an email back: "We, too, feel this is a pretty special place and are happy you found us! You have a beautiful story, and we would love for you to share it here at the Holland Center."

The Holland Center? Really? Did she just really write Holland Center? Did I read that correctly? That spark. That moment of excitement that this small coincidence was actually not a coincidence at all. That moment that takes our breath away because we know. Deep inside we just know. I refer to this as our sixth sense…Our intuition. Something, someone, somewhere, is nudging us forward, giving us signs and pointing us in the direction of YES! YES! YES! 

The Holland Center. The association that grabbed my attention was that my second husband Johannes (Jan), who chose to take his life one year after my son took his life and one week after our wedding, was born and raised in none other than Groningen, Holland.

How many of us go back and read and re-read things to make sure that it’s not just "wishful" thinking, making things up, or it's all in our heads? Our hearts know it's from beyond and beyond explanation, yet we rationalize it away as a mere coincidence and try to explain the unexplainable. We choose not to follow the path that has just been paved for us because it leads to the unknown, to risk. The fear can swallow us whole if we choose to follow the guideposts that present. It’s much safer to ignore, sabotage, and rationalize away the nudge that is forcing us out of our normal, complacent comfort zone into greatness.

To most cynics, this would surely be deemed a coincidence, right? I would think so—if I still believed in coincidences. The question is: how many coincidences do you need to validate what your heart already knows is your truth? During one of my lectures, a woman said sometimes she needs at least thirty "signs" before she finally stops, puts her index finger to her cheek and says, "Awwwwwwwww! That's the message I'm supposed to get!” My question again is: 

How many coincidences do you need to validate what your heart already knows is your truth?

To me, this was a simple and subtle but absolute message I would have missed had I been living in a grief-stricken sorrow and sad state. I would have missed this message from beyond if I were drowning every day in the puddle of tears that promised never to quit blinding me. Just as Jan was my cheerleader in life, he is now my cheerleader in death. He's just living on the other side of the very thin veil that separates our life here on earth and the afterlife. 

I am choosing to use my loved one’s guidance from beyond, as another tool, another resource, as I learn to trust my intuition—leading me to follow my heart. When I listen, I find that my choices, decisions, and life purpose are in line and met with little to no resistance. 

To appease the cynic and left brain analytical in me, I did do another Google search of theaters in Scottsdale." Just to be sure. Scrolling through seven pages of Google and there is not one mention of this location as a theater. No wonder. It’s a community center. Look what my search presented this time:

This, another validation that I am following the path of spirit and that my loved ones are helping me from beyond, giving me a big thumb's up to this new and unpaved path I have found myself on. This path has been both painful and rewarding—depending on what perspective I choose to view it from. On earth, it is painful. In the universe, it feels both satisfying and fulfilling.

My son Nicholas loved acting. It was if his whole life were a play. When he was seven years old, he would direct his friends in the backyard, placing them where they should be, making them dress up in costumes, and giving them scripts he would make up along the way. HONK! was the musical he acted in when he was in 5th grade at Manzano Day School. Isn't it coincidental that of all of the musicals in the world, HONK! would pop up during my search? Of the thousands of theatrical performances that could have surfaced, this one, the only musical he would ever perform in appeared…. 

Thank you to Wesley Small (Left) for his permission to use his photo for this article.

Scottsdale, here I come! 

It is important to listen to what our brain tells us. But it is essential to act on what our heart calls us to do—and follow and live our soul's purpose.

A positive flow in the direction that is in line with our spiritual being results. Living what we feel we are called to do is so much more rewarding than struggling to do what we think we should. I could have found a different theater. I could have opted for any number of locations. This feels right! I thought to myself. And for me: if it feels right, it is right. Most of us do not know what it is like to intuitively feel (now there's a four-letter word). We haven't allowed ourselves to feel, so we tend not to trust feelings when they present. When we don't trust our feelings, we rely on logical thinking—which is acceptable and works as we navigate this earth but does nothing to push us forward on our soul's journey.

What is your heart calling you to do? Your loved ones, and all of the others you cannot see but intuitively feel their presence when they are there, are with you, around you, and pointing you in directions that serve your highest and best interests. The question is: are you even aware and listening? Are you following? I believe that our loved ones from beyond have an amazing vantage point from where they are now. Why not use their sight to guide you on your journey here on earth?

What messages are your loved ones leaving for you, proving they are still right here? It is my experience that all of our loved ones will guide us if we allow them to—making our decisions much clearer and helping us serve our highest and best interests.

Do you have difficult choices and decisions to make and are not sure which way to go? Does your head usually tell you to do the thing that will keep you the safest? Is your heart pulling you to take a risk, to listen, and just follow? When I listen to my heart, I am led down the road less traveled—but it’s a rewarding and amazing journey into the unknown. Our analytical minds lead us down the paths of this earth. Our hearts, however, lead us down the paths of our souls, leading us to what we are being called to do. Our true abundance, I believe, will actually come from following the paths of our souls.

When I follow the path of my soul, although unknown and a bit risky, I do have the proof and the faith needed to hear my loved one's shout: You got this! We got your back! And at this moment in time? Both of them working together to make sure I continue to follow the nudge from beyond.

What are you choosing today? And more importantly, are you aware and allowing your loved ones to help and guide you?