282: Holly Worton ~ How to Recognize the Signs in Your Life

Today’s Guest

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What You’ll Learn

• How to recognize signs from the Universe/Spirit, your Higher Self, etc.
• How to actually pay attention to the signs so you can interpret their meaning
• Some specific types of signs you can look out for
• Why it’s so important to be willing to see the truth, even if it’s not what you want to hear
• Why you might want to record what you’re seeing, so you can review it in the future

Things I Discussed

• OBOD Bardic Grade course
• Weekly Messages
• West Kennet Long Barrow: Decoded and Orbed 
• Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest and other books 
• Plant Spirit Healing Apprenticeship 
• Business Intuition book 

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Related episodes

• 340 Esther Lemmens ~ How to Connect With Your Body’s Innate Wisdom
• 235: Joanna Hennon + Holly ~ How to Find the Right Balance Between Structure and Intuition
• BMP162 Holly Worton ~ Tap Into Your Intuition to Make Your Business Easier
• [R2B 86] How to Connect With Your Inner Wisdom, with Joanna Hennon
• [SHP 55] How to Listen to Your Soul (and Why That Matters), with Jodi Chapman

Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

Holly:  Hello, hello, and welcome to the Into The Woods podcast, episode 282. This is your host Holly Worton, and I am back with another solo episode.

Today, I am going to talk about seeing the signs on our kind of path in life. Today’s episode is inspired by my extensive year-end review that I have been doing. I don’t think I have ever spent so much time going through old journals and reviewing my year, as I have this year, which is really interesting. So, it first started around Samhain, when I began reviewing the year and looking at all the things that I needed to let go of, to move into the new year. I talked a little bit about this and how you can do something similar in 275, so I won’t go into that now. I went through all my old journals and I pulled my 12 oracle cards for the new year, each one for each month of the year. Then I found some journal prompts online for reviewing the year and looking at, not just the past year, but looking at what you want for the new year, that I really enjoyed working through. And then I kind of dug even deeper as I reviewed the past year as it is relating to my work with my Druid course, which is the Bardic Grade course from OBOD.

So, I have been going though how my relationship to nature has changed and how my spiritual relationship to nature and all that kind of stuff. So, it has been really interesting for me, because as I have been going through these old journals, reviewing what I wrote, I made some really surprising discoveries; and I realised that a lot of what I am now focussing on and the changes that I made in my life, and business, actually came up in my old journals as far back as a year ago but I didn’t remember writing them down. So that was kind of shocking to me and it made me realise that it has taken me the entire year to actually put into practice the ideas that I had about my new focus, which also really surprised me. So, this has made me want to reflect on how I can pay better attention to the signs on my path, and the changes that I want to make so that I can become more aware of the shifts and changing of focus that I need and want to make in my life. Now, this is very much a work in progress for me, this is something I have been thinking about a lot the last few days, but it is still very fresh. However, in the spirit of reviewing the year and moving into the new year, and so I wanted to share this with you now, because I think it might be interesting and useful for you too.

So, today, I am going to talk about how you can recognise signs from the world, the universe, spirit, your higher self, whatever you want to call it, whatever your perspective is, as to changes you might want to make in your life: changes regarding things that you might want to focus on, changes regarding your life’s direction, the path that you are taking, that kind of thing. I am going to talk about all the little signs and details, and things that you might want to pay attention to and how you can not only see these signs but take action on them, so you can perhaps make these changes sooner, rather than later. I was really shocked that I was thinking about this stuff as far back as a year ago. I don’t know whether it just needed time to marinate in my system, or I needed more details, but I feel like this year could have perhaps been easier if I had spent more time focussing on this stuff, rather than just seeing the seeds, but not necessarily planting them so they could grow. Which is fine, I know everything unfolds as it should, I know that I am on the right path and, interestingly, I got this email this week from my Akashic record keepers — I will post a link to that in the show notes if you haven’t heard me mention this before, it is these weekly emails that you can get from Vickie Young in the States, and she does this fantastic, super-focussed Akashic records reading of kind of what you need to be focussing on this week. So this week’s was hilarious, because I tend to get very impatient and I want stuff to happen and I want things to change; and it is like I want instant results, I am probably not the only person who experiences this, so if you perhaps fall into the same category you might resonate with this.

So, the email comes in over the weekend, it says:

“Holly, we wish to send this message to you so that you can realise that you are exactly where you NEED to be. Think about that for a minute Holly. You need to be somewhere right now and where in fact is that?” {laughing}

I don’t think I have ever laughed so much from an Akashic records reading {laughing}, because I feel like that that was their kind of humorous way of driving home the fact that I am exactly where I need to be right now. I did some belief statements on that, just to really help that embed into my brain because I get so: why am I not further down my path, why am I not doing more? Why am I not…ugh and that’s not very good. So, this is a reminder that of course we all are exactly where we need to be on our paths right now. However, sometimes it is nice to pay attention to these signs, so that you know what is coming, so that you can work on them, I know I am contradicting myself here, because I am doing this podcast to help you see the signs, so you can maybe speed things up, even though I know we are all right where we are supposed to be on our paths. So, my intention for this episode is to help you see the signs so that you can do with them whatever you want. You can set them aside, meditate on them, learn more about the stuff that’s kind of zinging for you. Do whatever you want with the signs, but I find it really useful to know that they are there.

So, anyway, into the episode, last November 26th, last year, I have this page in my journal that says: notice the signs. And I am going to use this as one of the first examples of signs that I was seeing in my life that I wasn’t taking action on. So, this was about when I had the idea or the sense that I needed to shift my shift my spiritual path away from the group I had been in for 12 years, and focus on something new, something perhaps nature-based, but wasn’t sure what that was, or what that looked like, and I had spent probably at least a year, if not more, feeling really frustrated as I looked at different ways forward in terms of my spiritual path.

So, when it finally came through, and I realised that it was Druidry, and this OBOD course in particular, I wrote down: notice the signs, and these were signs as I looked back in my life, I could have seen if I had paid more attention to them. So, I kept really being drawn to the word Druid, every time I saw it online it kind of had a zing for me. So, the year prior, in 2016, when I came back from my walk on the Ridgway, I started looking at information about West Kennett, Long Barrow, because that was one of the first places that I visited near the Ridgway, before I actually got started on the actual national trail, I felt such an immediate connection to that place, so I wanted to learn more about it and, the website I found was this blogpost from this Hedge Druid, I will link to that in the show notes, talking about West Kennett, Long Barrow and some dousing that he had done there and I found that really interesting, but it was the word Druid that really kind of had a zing to me. And then I started reading Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest, six-book-series, and then I became obsessed with her and started reading all of her books and eventually read her bio on the back of one of her books that said she was also a member of OBOD, and that was the thing that actually got me to go back to the OBOD website which I had visited God knows when, and that was when I saw theBardic Grade course. And, I realised that, now that I am going over this list, it is really even noticeable how many signs from way back then were paving the way to next year, and the things that I plan for next year. So, a lot of the characters in these books were either healers, or priestesses; and actually saying priestess, I was really, really drawn, I think this early this year, or perhaps the year before, to the Mists of Avalon books, and I read that entire series which I think was seven books, and I was really drawn to that whole kind of priestess, ancient culture, thing; but even more so with Juliet Marillier’s books was all the healers, and the herbs, and the plants. And then this year I read all of the Little House on the Prairie books again and I was really, really, into that concept of rural living and how they were working with the land, and how they were so in tune with the land. So, again, this list of signs comes from my journal a year ago, but I can see the signs as I go through this year, in terms of the types of fiction books that I was really, really, drawn to.

So, my plans for next year include taking a plant-spirit initiation course which is a nine-month course which I can link to in the show notes, that helps you work with the spirit of the plants, for healing and transformation; and I am so, so, excited about this course. So, based on this list, and these things, my suggestions for you would be to notice the signs in terms of words that have kind of a zing for you and if you don’t know what that is, ask me, but I think you will know in your gut. It is like certain words, or concepts, or things kind of stand out in your mind, like the word Druid, I didn’t really know what Druidry was, I am sure I knew it was some kind of pagan-spirituality path, but I didn’t know more than that, yet the word itself, every time I saw it, it was like: zing! So pay attention to the things that have zing for you.

Next, pay attention to the books that you are drawn to and obviously if you are looking at the non-fiction books that you are drawn to, that’s going to be more obvious. If I had been reading books on herbalism, or plant healing, or stuff like that, that would have been an obvious, clear, sign to the path that I seem to be heading on. But, with fiction, notice if you start reading, if you are kind of really obsessed with a certain author, a centre genre, a certain series of books. So, for me, it started with the Mists of Avalon books and that whole kind of ancient priestess world. Next, it moved onto the Juliet Marillier books which were very much about herbal healers and plant healing and again ancient British and Irish spirituality, and the Druids, there are lots of Druids in her books. Then, this year it was the Little House on the Prairie books which, also, had that deep connection to the land and that deep connection to nature, plants and animals. And I have recently started re-reading these books that I read decades ago, which Clan of the Cave Bear series, so I am on book 4 of that. And I was just talking in my Patreon group the other day about how I get so embarrassed to share some of the books that I have been reading on Goodreads, because I don’t know, I get really judgemental about the books that I read, but these Clan of the Cave Bear books I am loving because the main character, Ayla, she heals with plants, she is a healer, she is a herbalist. And I am loving that, the author actually talks about specific plants, European plants that are useful in healing, and I love it, I love hearing about all the tea she makes and how she heals people and I just love that kind of world of ancient healing.

So, pay attention to stuff like that, again, that’s words that zing, concepts that zing and the books that you are reading. I actually even wrote down, I have a few pages in my journal from that period, from December of that year. I have got one list of things that zing, so, maybe sit down and make a list, “things that zing”. One of the things that I wrote on the list was: writing books, doing my podcast in a new format, which is what I have been doing this year, without the interviews; Avebury, walking in nature, reading good books, those are some of the things that zinged for me at that time, zing, zung, (I don’t know what the past tense is!) but they had zing for me.

Then on the next page, I actually wrote down a list of things that felt heavy. This is something also that I recommend you doing, because interestingly, some of the things that felt heavy: 1) online business, I have been feeling such an aversion to the online business world for so long and that was clearly a sign that I needed to let go of the business mindset stuff and move towards the nature stuff, and my writing, and non-business-y stuff. That was so hard for me to do, so hard for me to let go of that identity and I feel like I am still like I am not fully disconnected from it, but the signs were there. You probably heard me complaining about online marketing, the second thing on my list that felt heavy: marketing online. I was so disillusioned with online marketing for so long, that was such a clear sign that I needed to move away from that world, and yet, I wasn’t able to do that until sought more clarity on what I did want instead. And then I listed discovery calls, I started feeling a little bit disillusioned with discovery calls, I often find that people can be really flaky sometimes, sometimes people weren’t showing up for them and it was really frustrating and annoying me. I would often have discovery calls that were lovely, with fantastic people, and I was so happy to meet them, but I would get really annoyed with the people who didn’t show up. And, you know, I think that is another sign for my path forward, so right now I am not really taking on new clients, I am not actively seeking new clients, I am pretty much just working with people that already know me, either previous clients, existing clients, people in my Patreon group, I have been putting out offers to them. So, not looking at taking on new people, unless they come recommended from an existing client.

So, I have another list, “time in the New Year will be spent: 1) walking 2) in nature 3) doing the OBOD course 4) taking others on walks 5) doing navigation and outdoors courses 6) reading good books” — and I did all those things. So, as a result of doing this journaling, I saw what I needed to be spending time on, I made that list and I did it. So, this is also kind of an example of what you can do to start taking steps down this path, based on the signs that we are seeing, so I hope that makes sense.

Another sign is animals, so pay attention if there are any animals that stand out for you when you are out in nature, and this isn’t just: oh I saw a bird, that bird means this. It is something that really, really, stands out for you, so, for example, when I was in Avebury about a-year-and-a-half ago with my friend Cara, we were walking to the pub for dinner at night and there were all these black slugs everywhere. There were so many slugs, I can’t remember the last time I saw so many slugs, it was like I was side-stepping to get away from the slugs. So, as we were walking, I finally said, “what is it with all these slugs, there are slugs everywhere?” And she said, “slugs, what slugs?” She hadn’t noticed them and to me they were everywhere. And I was just like: that is so weird they are everywhere, how can you not see the slugs? When we get back to the B&B let’s see what slugs mean in terms of animal symbolism, and we did, and it was totally relevant. So, it is an animal that really stands out for you. So, again, I have this in my journal from December last year, I was visiting my parents, sleeping with my windows open at night because it was really hot, and I am lying there in bed trying to sleep and I hear this owl, but this owl was in stereo, he sounded like he was in my room, and this owl was just hooting and hooting and hooting and just wouldn’t shut up. So finally I got up and turned on my light, turned on my phone, looked up the meaning for owl and he shut up, and he moved on, but I ended up looking out the window and this owl was sitting on the edge of the neighbour’s house, which was right outside my window, on the edge of his roof. And, I just thought: what are the odds that this owl is going to be right outside my window, well, the message was really relevant, so again that’s something in animal that stands out. So, when you have these experiences with nature, whether it is a plant, an animal, or a mineral, or whatever, and it really zings for you (I am going to use that word again) then pay attention to it, pay attention to it.

In the same way, songs that get stuck in your head, or songs that keep coming up for you, or songs that you keep hearing. So as I have been working on my tree book this year, so often I get just that line or two, from that song, it’s a Simon and Garfunkel song, Feeling Groovy, that goes, “slow down, you move too fast, got to make the morning last”. I actually had to edit out because I tried to sing that little bit for you and it was not good, you do not want to hear that! So, “slow down you move too fast”, that was what kept getting stuck in my head every time I would either be walking to the trees, to collect their stories, sometimes even being out in nature but it was specifically when I was going to collect the stories from the trees. And that was a sign that I needed to be slowing down in nature and I needed to be being still in nature, I needed to sit still in nature, I needed to spend more time in quiet stillness outdoors and not just be walking all the time and moving all the time. So, pay attention to songs that come up into your head or that you hear all the time. And, then, going back to what I was saying to my aversion to online marketing, if you have a really strong aversion to something, or if you are always complaining about something, or if you are just really annoyed with something, pay attention to that, because that’s something that you might want to be moving away from or letting go from. Okay, so: this thing really annoys me, this online marketing really annoys me, what do I want instead? What would I rather have instead? What would I rather be experiencing instead? So, look at that annoying thing and flip that on its head and turn it around.

So, this is all about paying attention to the little details…including patterns. So, this could be recurring thoughts, recurring experiences, pay attention to all of the little things that keep coming up over and over again for you. So, again, whether it is songs or things that have aversion to, things that you really like, or books that you are reading, pay attention to the recurring patterns and things. And another things which is really important for me to point out here is that you need to be willing to see the truth, even when it is not what you want to see. So, I was clearly seeing the signs but not letting them sink in. So, I was getting all the signs that I need to be moving my focus away from business and towards nature stuff, but it was so hard for me to let go of that identity of the business-mindset-person that I was seeing the signs, but it really wasn’t sinking in; because it wasn’t the sign that I wanted to see or the message that I wanted to hear. So, the more that you can be open, and flexible, and open to change, and open to pivoting in your business, or in your life, or just kind of shifting your perspective and looking down a different path, the easier it will be for you to, not only see these signs and become aware of them, but also integrate them and interpret them and take action on them in your life.

How to review the signs

Now, I think this is all a lot easier if you have some kind of quiet time, or morning ritual, or evening ritual, or some meditation time, or some time when you can connect with yourself; because the better of a connection you have with yourself, the easier it is to see these signs and interpret them for what they are meant to say to you. And it really helps to have some kind of journalling practice where you write this stuff down, so that you can go back and read this stuff, see what you have written down.

So, I have been doing a really in-depth year-end review, but I am starting to think maybe I should be doing either a monthly review, or a quarterly review, or doing this more frequently, because I think if I was to go through my journals more frequently, it would make it a lot easier to take action on this stuff and really clearly see the path ahead before it becomes painfully obvious. So, if this is something that sounds right for you, that you might want to do, either do a monthly review, or a quarterly review, or every time you finish an old journal, or a journal review. Because I go through about, I would say about four journals a year, so that’s kind of a quarterly thing, so I could very well sit down every time I finish a journal, before I crack open a new one and spend some time going through the old stuff and looking at things that I wrote down, things that have changed since then. One thing that I do in my journals is I write down whenever I do belief statements or energy work, I write all that stuff in my journal, so I can see what I worked on, when I worked on it, and what has changed since then. So, if you do this kind of work with yourself, it is really, really, really, useful to write it in your journal because that way you can have a good idea of what has changed since you did that work and I think that is really, really, important for me.

Another sign, perhaps the most important sign, is your gut feeling, that’s the intuition, it is always there, you have always got it, and the more you cultivate your intuition, the easier it will be for you to see these signs and take action on these signs. I am going to reference my book Business Intuition, it is useful not just for Business Intuition, but all kinds of intuition and in that book, I give you some really clear steps on how to better your intuition, how to turn up the volume on it, so that you can clearly see the signs and hear the messages from intuition and how to take action on your intuition.

So, I am going to wrap this up, so to quickly recap, this is all about paying attention to the little signs, the little details, the patterns, the recurring thoughts, the experiences, songs, aversions to somethings, or being drawn to something, animals that might be showing up in your life in a weird way, songs in your head, gut feelings — things that zing. Like I said, I am sure you know what that means. And, finally, I just want to remind you to be open to change, open to shifting, open to possibility of receiving signs and messages that you might not want to hear, because the sooner you receive them, the easier it will be for you to make those shifts. So, just be open to receiving this stuff, even if it is not maybe what you necessarily want to see.

So, I hope you found this episode interesting and useful. I am actually going to be popping some journalling prompts into the Patreon group, so if you are not yet in my Patreon group I would love to see you in there – if you head over to: http://Patreon.com/HollyWorton you can join me there. Membership starts at just $1 a month and you get exclusive access to content I don’t share anywhere else, including journal prompts which I am super-excited to be sharing, because I find it really useful when I am journaling, to respond to journalling prompts and answering questions and things that other people put together. Sometimes I just do some free writing, but it is really, really, useful for me, at least, to follow prompts that other people have given, whether it is in a blog post or as part of my Bardic training, or whatever. I find them really, really, useful, so I am super-excited to be preparing this for the Patreon group. So, again, would love to see you in there. Please, also, drop me a line, let me know what you thought of this week’s episode, or if you have any questions you can email me: [email protected]. Thank you so much for listening.

Next week, I will be back with the fabulous Joanna Hennon and we will have another episode for you. So, thank you again for listening, I know I just said that, but I am saying it again, because if you weren’t listening, I wouldn’t be doing this podcast. I really, really, love hearing from listeners so feel free to drop me a line. And remember to listen to visit: http://HollyWorton.com/282 for the show notes on this episode. Thank you so much.