Turkey Crossing

When I picked up my daughter from daycare on Friday she gave me a picture of two turkeys she had painted using her handprints.  My eyes filled with tears and a chill ran through me, not because I thought they were so adorable and perfect (which I did), but because earlier that day I'd had quite a profound run in with these very creatures. My friend and business partner, Chrissy, and I were going to a meeting. As we were getting out of the car, 4 huge wild turkeys, who were as startled to see us as we were to see them, crossed in front of us on the street. "Oh my gosh! Turkeys!" were the words that I think flew out of my mouth. There was a moment's pause where I looked directly into each of their eyes, gathering exactly what I was looking at. That moment, while fleeting, seemed to at the same time last for quite awhile. Then they took flight and were gone. Finding this too amazing to ignore, I inquired about the symbolic meaning of turkeys. It turns out that turkeys are thought to be a symbol of awareness, fertility, harvest, abundance, tenacity, gratitude and new beginnings.

New beginnings are most certainly on the forefront of my career right now, with yoga instruction and meditation taking the reins, and if you look back a few posts, you'll notice one of my recent topics was gratitude. It's funny, though not surprising, how everything comes full circle and is, in some way (or perhaps in quite a profound way) linked together. I wrote about gratitude because I had been reading an article in a regional yoga publication which inspired my daughter and husband and I to start a list "I am thankful for..." where we write down something everyday through Thanksgiving. It serves as a great reminder for how much we really do have to be grateful.

Getting back to the turkeys, some also believe the turkey is linked to your third eye and intuition. I had to smile to myself when I read this because in the last few months I've started noticing that that little voice in the back of my head that I've always been a bit skeptical of, already has it figured out. I've even started listening to that little voice and not surprisingly, it has been serving me quite well.  If you're in a state of mind to accept ideas of mysticism, or whatever word you'd like to apply, you might even say that those turkeys were a sign of my third eye opening...ever so slightly anyway. On the way to the store later that night, the thought crossed my mind that I was going to run into someone from the art community in my town. And sure enough...

This brings a smile to my face for a couple of reasons but mainly out of comfort. It's not that it was a glimpse of the future but of what has already happened. It's a little reminder that everything will be ok because we've done all this before. Every experience has been laid out for us in the exact way that it needs to happen to us, regardless of whether we understand it yet. Whether or not you're ready to accept that idea, at least ponder over it.  Haven't you ever had something happen that was a "weird" coincidence? Maybe it wasn't a coincidence at all but a sign, a "God-wink," a nudge from a higher power encouraging you to wake up. Listen to that little voice. Open your third eye.

Don't think too hard on this though. It will make sense when it's supposed to.