We all love Green Light Synchronicity.
I’m speaking of those Magic Moments when everything just seems to align together harmoniously, all in perfect timing.
One of my favorite––and quite literal––experiences of this was several years ago when I taught a Thanksgiving Day yoga class.
Although I’m usually quite good at estimating my travel time, always including some extra padding, that year the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade had other ideas for me.
Traffic was diverted in unannounced ways and I found myself anxiously waiting in a cab to cross from the West to the East Side and away from the madness.
Just when I was about to give up and call the center to suggest that maybe they should just cancel the class, a traffic cop waved us through.
Suddenly, everything opened up.
And then, almost miraculously, not once but twice, for about 30 blocks in a row, we hit a series of Green Lights, allowing me to arrive and start (almost) perfectly on time.
This week I had to take Vlad to the vet for a booster shot.
He genuinely likes everyone at the vet’s office but the moment he realized they were about to inject him, his cheerful demeanor turned fearful.
He dug his heels into the ground, trying to get away from the needle.
It was over mere seconds later.
Of course, I have absolutely no regrets about making sure he stays up to date with his vaccinations.
I do, however, wish I could explain to him that not only will the shot truly be over in a second, but also more importantly, that this unpleasant interlude is completely for his own good.
I wish I could communicate the Big Picture of what’s happening, in other words, telling him that this momentary flicker of pain will shield him from all sorts of future misery.
It’s the Red Light Pinch, in other words, before the endless string of Green Light Good Health.
I still haven’t fully processed the drama I wrote about last week.
Namely, I found out that an attorney I knew from over a decade ago and was more or less intending to hire again, had been arrested on three counts of grand larceny, of stealing from their clients.
Almost everyone I shared the details with used the same phrase:
“Wow! You really dodged a bullet.”
In this case, however, I would say it was more like dodging a cannonball.
I mean this not just in terms of the possible impact but more because the signals of something being seriously amiss in my first conversation with them were so obvious.
Basically, there were gigantic Red Flags.
As disturbing as it was, I’m glad I recognized it as clear Red Light Signal, one that was designed to work in my favor, installed by the Universe with my safety in mind.
Contemplating the red and green lights in my life, I’ve indulged in some research about the history of Red and Green traffic signals.
There’s actually a scientific reason why red is the color for stopping; on an optical level, red’s wavelength makes it the color we can see from furthest away.
And while traffic lights have always been a part of the lives of everyone who’s reading this, they are a relatively modern invention.
According to the Smithsonian magazine,in 1913––the year the Model T began rolling off Henry Ford’s assembly line––4,000 people died in car accidents.
The world at the time was simply not set up for vehicles that could drive 40 miles per hour.
Thus, the first U.S. traffic light was invented, appearing in 1914 in Cleveland.
It had only red and green lights; the color yellow was added in 1920.
Between 1914 and 1930, even with the increased drivers on the road with nearly every major city having at least one traffic light, fatalities fell by more than 50%.
Indeed, on all sorts of levels, particularly when we’re going faster and faster, sometimes the signal to stop is exactly what we need.
Sometimes, when life offers a green light, a leap of faith is required.
In that spirit, I’ve decided to offer a Christmas Gift (of sorts),for the first 10 people for whom it’s a fit
Namely, this February I’m unveiling a new course: Tell A New Story.
I’m going to share all the techniques of storytelling I’ve been exploring for reinventing oneself, for reconnecting with purpose, achieving breakthroughs, and really being the Hero of Your Journey.
It’s the first time I’m going to offera seven module course that’s taught live.
Most notably, it comes with seven individual 1:1 coaching sessions.
I want to go deep with the material as I develop it––probably for a book and later a mass-audience course––and I want to make it easy for people to enroll.
So from now until the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s basically 70% off the full price.
(And 1/3 the price I charge for private coaching).
I’m calling it a (minor) leap of faith only because I haven’t fully composed the modules and ironed out all the details.
In a way, I’m asking you to embody the theme of this month’s meditation––Abundant Expectancy without Expectations HERE––and go on this journey with me.
So … if you’re interested, just respond to this email and my team will send you the (currently secret) link.
As always, trust whatever signal is flashing for you now.
Although I could in no way explain the Big Picture behind vaccination to Vlad, of course he regained his buoyant, playful serenity in nanoseconds.
He forgave the Vet Techs almost instantly, perhaps somehow knowing that we all had his best intentions at heart.
I wish that I could respond as quickly to every Red Light Synchronicity in my own life with such a positive pivot, knowing that they’re stopping me at the right moments in order to protect me, most probably in ways I might never understand.
As always, Vlad has a lot to teach me.
It’s interesting to note that the future of the United State’s 2 million traffic lights is currently very much in flux.
With driverless vehicles and AI, there’s the potential of traffic lights vanishing entirely.
More intriguingly, there’s also a possibility of a new color being added to the mix in the near future.
“We need a new signal called blue phase, meaning you should follow the vehicle in front of you,” declares one prominent civil engineer and traffic researcher.
I’m not sure how I feel about this paradigm shift on a traffic level, although I do very much like the idea of a signal being called “the blue phase.”
It reminds me, of course, not only of Picasso, but also of a genre of music I love.
Perhaps what I appreciate most about that engineer’s quote, though, is the realization that sometimes a new signal truly is required.
As we celebrate the season of Red and Green (and their respective synchronicities), last week, amongst the Red Lights of dodging a legal cannon ball and Vlad’s vaccination, to add to the mix, a January event I’m hosting got pushed to April.
And in the green light column, a path appeared seemingly out of nowhere for another project that had been left on the back burner.
As I’m embracing more and more the spirit of Abundant Expectancy (Without Expectation)––this month’s meditation HERE––more and more I truly see how (when I let it), everything is working out in my best interest.
Yes,sometimes the parade is blocking your way, but then the lights all turn in your favor.
Living with Abundant Expectancy does mean trusting in the Universe’s Timing.
My biggest challenge––and maybe yours, too––is learning to stop trying to direct cosmic traffic, and instead pay more attention to the signals––Red, Green, Yellow, and maybe now even Blue––that the Universe is constantly sending us, knowing they’ll never lead us astray.
Warmest (Red & Green) Holiday Wishes
…And As Always …
Namaste for Now,
