The phrase ‘another door opens’ means something to me. I adopt these three words in times of ambiguity as well as in times of zest and high creativity.
Like jagged bottomed denim jeans or worn sneakers, just the thought of the phrase or the image of it conjures something — life, movement, adventure! The phrase has motion, energy and curiosity in it.
Adopting this mental image of a door opening or even seeing a crack of light in the darkness heightens my awareness to the micro shifts that happen when walking through uncertainty. This is not Pollyannaish.
Putting our antenna up to notice the micro shifts that occur is a way of keeping our vibration high. What’s an example of a shift? That conversation that sparks something new. That meeting with a potential client or employer that didn’t materialize into something, yet, but allowed you a chance to listen better and articulate yourself in a new way with a new person. That unsolicited email or invitation that gives you fresh hope. The people who say yes and show up for you. Those are all micro shifts that need to be noted. Even documented.
Why? Because if you’re one of the many people between places of employment now like I am, we need to not only see, but truly take note of the shifts. I write them down. Then I go a step further to look at what I’ve been doing that may have contributed to that shift. If you start to see a pattern, you might just blow your own mind. Then, actions can become systems.
Maybe you’re allowing yourself more fun. Maybe you’re getting more sleep. Maybe you’re studying in a new way. Maybe you’re taking better care of yourself. Maybe you’re reaching out to have lunch with friends to build community. What are you doing, who are you being, how are you showing up in the world just before those shifts happen?
Shifts are gifts. Count them for what they are. Don’t push past them like they don’t matter or lament what they are not. If we just think in binary terms, we hold ourselves back from letting the energies around us and within us move and reconfigure our mindset. And we have to move to get things moving. We have to stay awake to the shifts that are occurring.
We all experience uncomfortable and scary times of change, ambiguity and transition — whether it’s a fog created by career questions and money concerns, fear of becoming an empty nester or a desire to bust through the circumstantial perimeter holding our life small and in a state of stasis or stagnation.
If we learn to look for doors that crack open a bit, we register a shift… even if the doors are not swinging wide open just yet. They will. And if, like me, you have to close your doors for the day and tuck away inside and rest, do it. Then awaken, discover a new day, and remember you’ve got a lot of fight left in you. Have a little faith, and embrace your woo if you haven’t already. That tiny shift may prove to be an unforgettable gift.