I absolutely love the moment on her Comedy Central series when Amy Schumer recruited Bill Nye, the science guy, to say:
“Scientists once believed the Universe was a chaotic collection of matter. We now know the universe is essentially a force sending cosmic guidance to white women in their twenties.”
I laughed out loud at the skit, able to cast that first stone at myself and fully identifying with the New Age ridiculousness of it all.
You see, I’m in both camps when it comes to “Messages from the Universe.”
On the one hand, I can’t get enough of Jung and synchronicity.
I’m a fan of the massive bestseller E-Squared and I’m thrilled that the author Pam Grout is going to do a private Q&A with our Inner Circle Membership Group soon).
Her book is full of practical experiments, two- and three-day challenges, where she invites you to actually test to see if all this New Age stuff really works.
Last month, one of these experiments resulted in a jaw-dropping synchronicity for me––one I’m writing about in a longer work––that happened against all odds, unfolding with seemingly magical perfection.
(Really, I swear it did.)
On the other hand…
Sometimes such Law of Attraction Vibration talk is so full of nonsense, it’s meaningless and maddening.
A few years ago, I had a catch-up call with an overly vibe-y friend where I mentioned it had been a difficult period in that several important people to me had either died or lost their partners in the last year.
“Wow,” was their response, “You really need to clean up your vibration.”
Taken aback, I shared that I didn’t think my “vibration” had caused any of these deaths, particularly since several of these people were in their 80s.
I’m working on two major projects right now:
• An 8-part course for a huge science-based website (60 million visits a month) where every wellness statement I write needs a university study citation and is also vetted by my editor and a medical team.
• A short novel, more of an urban fable actually, about synchronicity and magic and finding meaning and purpose in life, where I can say absolutely anything spiritual or vibe-y or crackpot that pops into my head.
(I.e. one rigorously fact-checked / one completely not.)
It’s fun but challenging to live between the two worlds, and perhaps more importantly, I think that’s where the truth of being human actually lies.
In the same way, I love this quote from Paulo Coelho that reflects this paradox:
“Everything happens for a reason
But sometimes the reason is that you made bad decisions…”
In that same spirit, here’s the “Message from the Universe” I received this week.
I invited my little sister to do the experiments with me in E-Squared.
Specifically, envisioning something and “manifesting” (another impossibly annoying New Age term) it from the universe.
I chose something insignificant, even whimsical: an ice-cream sandwich.
The Universe’s assignment: manifest an ice-cream sandwich for me during the experiment which had a 48-hour deadline.
Realizing I was planning my once every three weeks trip to Trader Joe’s in that window, I secretly envisioned that there might be a moment of free samples.
If that happened, I planned to count that moment as a “Manifesting Home Run.”
Instead, however, on entering the store, I came across this sign:
Basically, this mini-billboard––no doubt from “The Universe” aka Trader Joe’s––like an exasperated parent told me:
“Make your own damn ice cream sandwich!”
In fact, even more clearly, it insisted I get creative and actually invent something original.
And so, I did.
I bought and then warmed some TJ’s butter croissants.
I scooped in some coffee ice cream.
I drizzled this with melted Trader Joe’s peanut butter.
And I decorated them with chocolate-covered espresso beans.
I served my re-envisioned ice cream sandwiches to myself and my friend Robbie that night, and miraculously, I woke up the next morning one pound thinner.
Today I’m posting my recipe on IG as directed…and I’m quite convinced I’m going to win the contest.
But here’s my point:
I absolutely do believe in messages from “The Universe.”
I’ve had a bunch––some life-altering––and I’m going to share more soon.
But sometimes the tough love message from the Universe really is;
“Get creative
and solve this problem yourself!”
Namaste for Now,
P.S. It really was the best ice cream sandwich I’ve ever had.
More often than not, getting creative and making up your own recipe is a thousand times better than waiting for something to be handed to you.
