Seeing Steve Beckow’s musings about moving has lit a fire under me. I’m inspired to write about my own moving experience, one that I am on the ladder end of.
We Earth souls are not always privy to where our path will unfold. I am so grateful for this adventure, for the calm coves of rest, and the rapid bursts of tumultuous transformation where the only thing to do is surrender and buckle your seat belt. This is an account of one such occasion.
On September 30th, my husband, and the primary financial contributor to our family was given his walking papers from the academic institution that employed him for the previous two years. Almost to the day.
On October 1, 2012 Scott started his new job at the University of Hawaii just a week following our move to the islands from Durham, North Carolina, and ended without fanfare one day short of two years.
The move to Hawaii in 2012 was less easy, and more an act of sheer determination. We knew it would be tricky financially, but we could not have anticipated just how tricky. We figured, we want this, I mean, who does not want to live in Hawaii? Right? What added to the desire to be in the healing, warm caressing breezes of Hawaii was that I have roots there. I was born and raised there, and my mom and sister live on Oahu and Maui respectively.
Moving is no simple task, especially when you have a family of 4 to move. Yet it has been my belief and understanding that when the universe wants me to be somewhere, I’ll be given clear signs and I’ll be brought there.
The same is true for a place that I’m not supposed to be. The signs are equally clear. In essence, doors close, and tightly. So when my husband called me that fateful afternoon, prepping me with the comment “I have some bad news”… words that put a person on the edge of hope and fear, knowing that it could be minor or catastrophic for an eternal moment of expectation.
“I got laid off” Scott tells me with 1 part incredulity, and 1 part sad confusion. And I respond “What”!?! What could he have done to have brought this on? Scott feeling my blameful thoughts immediately says “there was a huge budget shortfall”. That was that. “Now what?!” He also says.
A little bit about our time in Hawaii. It was beautiful. The people are lovely. My business was steadily growing and evolving. But we simply could not afford life there.
Groceries, gas, rent – everything was too expensive for us to make it work. We’d been really working hard to keep the Hawaiian dream alive. We were consciously and unconsciously perpetuating the belief that we could “do this.” Both Scott and I working two sometimes three different jobs to make it work.
When Scott got the word that his job was over, it was a death. The death of our Hawaiian dream that we had fought so diligently to keep up. It was also the opening of a new gateway of possibility.
Letting go of the idea that we were “washing out” was the important first step. Judging ourselves on that level was an easy, knee-jerk way to perceive the experience we were coming to the conclusion of, yet important to move past and through. Quickly, the sensation of excitement and desire to align with the next thing began to show up. Should we stay in Hawaii? Does it make sense to continue? Are there alternative options we could consider?
Almost immediately it became clear that Hawaii was ready to assist us in leaving the islands. When I felt into the sensations of what I was feeling, I tuned into a strong energetic visual image of the ocean telling us it was time to head back to the mainland. I could clearly see the streamers of blue and aqua energy lifting off the ocean surface and literally forming in the shapes of multiple hands pointing in the direction of the US Mainland. It was then that I knew that our days in Honolulu were numbered.
We were not hearing back from any of the potential new jobs in Hawaii that Scott had applied for, and we had begun to receive a barrage of information from my brother about how great life is for families in a town called The Woodlands, just North of Houston, TX. There was no initial part of me that was open to the possibility of moving to Texas, as I held a rigid perception of what life might be like. When I’m faced with dilemmas of this proportion, I trust that my logical mind is not the best decision maker. For this I was going to have to get quite, get clear and trust.
Getting quite made what I knew more pronounced. Let’s end this madness. Let’s consider that perhaps Hawaii is not the place we’d hoped it would be for a long term, life-time settle. My desires are simple. I want a place that we can all thrive, where there is a community of open hearts, and where we can be of service. As it turns out, that place, for now and until further notice, is The Woodlands, Texas.
Once the decision to move was made, it all flowed effortlessly – a huge sign of validation for me. I breathed a sigh of cautious relief. We bought the tickets to Houston which are typically about three thousand dollars, at almost half the cost at $1,600. We had a great place to stay, my husband had a job interview lined up for the day after our arrival – truly hitting the ground running.
This move has not been without it’s moments of heartbreak. When we commit to a decision, I’ve found that the “other” or alternate possibility reveals itself. In our case, it was the playing out of the staying in Hawaii possibility.
The day after we purchased our tickets to Houston, Scott started to receive call-backs to interviews for the positions he had applied for weeks before. It was also at this time that my mom, a local in Honolulu who’d been nursing a long-term cough, discovered that she had stage-3 lung cancer.
As the news sunk in and we rolled our eyes and shrugged our shoulders at the theater of the absurd being played out in front of our eyes. We knew that the tickets were purchased and this train was leaving the station. Nothing short of a huge financial download would have prevented our leaving. Not even the cancer diagnosis.
Mom gave us her blessing and we talked of her coming out to continue her choice of traditional treatment in Texas.
It’s been a month and half since we’ve been back on the Mainland. Scott got the job and is loving it. We’ve moved out of my brother’s lovely home into a great place of our own. The kids are enjoying their new elementary school, which they share with their 6-year-old twin cousins, and I have the beautiful gift of not one but two offices for my private practice and light work, one at home and a great space in the downtown Woodlands area, and I’ve just discovered through the Meetup.com website that there are a lot of us light workers in these parts.
I’ve also found, that Texas is a state that honors self-expression, even radical self-expression. There are a lot of big characters and big personalities in the Lone Star State, but what I’ve found is there’s a genuine warmth and open heartedness that surprises me.
It makes no difference if a person is conservative or liberal. There’s a recognition in the heart of the common Texan (that I’ve met) that exemplifies non-judgment, service to humanity in the form of going out of one’s way to be helpful and kind and by all means, be you.
This has been soothing balm for healing and processing the experience of the last two years in Hawaii. I am excited to see what this new beginning will bring. With the intensifying energies and this new station I keep, I’m poised and ready to commit myself to the work that I feel called to do. I know with complete faith that the future will unfold perfectly, and all I need to do is to let go and enjoy the ride!
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Nora Yolles-Young, C.Ht.
healingeffortlessly.com
chrysalishealing.org
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