I mentioned the TV show Legion a few weeks ago, and I have to go there again. (No spoilers!) Like the season premiere, episode two had a break in the action where an unseen narrator explains a brief life lesson. (The narrator happens to be voiced by Jon Hamm, which only enhances the magic of this show for me.) This particular lesson explains how “a tick’s reality is a product of temperature and butyric acid,” as that’s how it perceives it’s near a warm-blooded creature. “A bloodhound has two hundred million scent receptors,” which means his sense of smell has a whole lot to do with how he comprehends the physical world around him. The narrator then explains that humans are the only animals who form ideas about their world. “We perceive it not through our bodies but through our minds.”
Last month I had an ah-ha moment. I had been doing a few rituals every day with the objective of clearing my energy and practicing self-healing. One particular day, I had forgotten to do my morning ritual. I thought that was odd, then I took a moment and realized I felt no desire to do that ritual. It hit me that I didn’t need to do it, to rely on something outside of me to get me connected to the universe. In that moment, I decided to stop doing all my daily rituals and suddenly felt a huge sense of freedom. And then? My recurring back spasms went away.
Two weeks later, everything changed. About five different things popped up in my life all at once that were stressful, annoying, and potentially scary. My mind kept being drawn to the frightening “what ifs” like a moth to a flame. I really felt powerless over it, it led to a downward spiral of serious worrying, and not surprisingly, the back pain came back in a big way.
So I decided to ask the universe for help, and it showed up in beautiful support from friends and family, and a random discovery of an online Deepak Chopra course that addressed exactly what I was going through. I started to see my situation in a new light—the challenges have come up to help me learn, grow, and evolve. It doesn’t really make them easier, but it makes me feel one hundred percent better about them.
I had a great conversation with a friend the other day, who had previously witnessed me in the spiral. She texted me later, and said she felt so happy, she wanted to shout, “Julie’s back!”
Today on the subway there were three older gentlemen in natty suits harmonizing the song “My Girl.” The lead singer singled me out and sang a verse just to me. Then when they were done, I handed him a donation and he exclaimed to the car, “We have a live one!”
When my perception of the world changed, the world changed around me—and I got literal feedback.
When the bloodhound smells something, he gets information. He doesn’t think, what if I’m wrong? What if I make a mistake? Human minds are powerful creators…and our super power is perception. Legion is about mutant super heroes, and now I know why I love that crazy show so much. We’re all mutant super heroes.
It’s all about the magic. 🙌