Mining the Universe for Signs:

How I made Life-Changing Decisions

When I have had to make life-changing decisions, ones in which I wasn’t limited by the effect on my child (I’m a single mom so never had to consider a spouse), or a job, or a career, I went looking for answers in nature (or the universe) — mining my surroundings for “signs.”

In order to do this, you have to have a certain worldview — one in which you believe that life is more than just empirical experience. You have to believe that there is a mysterious, mystical dimension, a spiritual reality. Religious people accept this; if you believe in a God of some kind, you naturally accept a beyond-the-earthly-world dimension. Where we may differ is in what we call this, and how we seek answers from it. I will call it the Universe, and I will describe how I sought an answer from this.

A few years ago, I was drawn to live in the place where I grew up and had moved away from for over two decades, the beautiful island of Guam. I had a good life in the place where I was living (Hawaii), but I was open to making a change. There were many signs pointing to my decision to move. I assessed my level of happiness there, a sense of peace, the beauty of the place. There were a few items in my “con” side, that it would be more expensive than my current living situation, and also that my mother was aging…