People often boast about how “listening to the universe” will change your life, but the one thing I used to ask is “how?.”

“The universe”, “manifestation”, “deja vu”, the “power of crystals”, and “spiritual influences” never really struck a cord with me in my earlier adulthood. I always wondered what it all meant but I brushed it off to the side thinking that they were nonsense and that the people who believed in those sort of things were crazy. I mean, how can the universe influence what happens in your life?

Then came a time when I began dating a spiritual atheist. What the heck is a spiritual atheist? I guess it’s someone who does not believe in God but believes in spiritual influences from the universe. During the courtship, I was asked the question, “have you watched the movie, ‘the Secret’?” At the time I was asked, I didn’t, but was told that I should watch it one day. The courtship continued with me learning more and more about spiritual influences until this relationship ended a few years later.

After the relationship, I found my happiness and enjoyed being single for about two years before finding myself in another relationship with a fellow Catholic I have to admit that it was very hard for me to let go of this new found happiness in being single, that it took several weeks of his pursuit before my heart finally changed its course .

“The Secret” came up somewhere in some conversation and it triggered the memory of being asked to watch it. So on I went scouting for the full video and found it on YouTube. I watched it from end to end, rewinding the parts that didn’t make sense, until it finally made sense. Although still skeptical, From that one sitting, I learned a lot more about spiritual influences, vision boards, healing crystals, angel numbers, to putting your trust and faith into the universe, and God of course. I learned that the concept of leaning into the universe as a guide was similar to religion.

For me, the combination of putting God and the spiritual universe has come with its rewards to this day.

As time went by, my rock (crystal) collection grew, I learned how to meditate and manifest with healing crystals and candles, and I still held my God very close to my heart often thanking him for what I have today.

A believer. I became somewhat a believer of the universe when one night for shits and giggles, under a full moon I held a white 1.5″ moonstone that I got from Sedona in my left hand, with a lit pink candle in my right, I attempted to manifest abundance via an incantation of a script that I found online. My intent at that time was to see what happens.

My bedroom had access to the second floor rooftop of my parent’s 2-story home but the door to the rooftop was not quite as secure I’d hoped for it to be with a crack in the corner. When my so called ritual ended, moths found their way into my bedroom through a crack in the door. I woke up to my bedroom ceiling full of moths the next morning — litterally hundreds of them. My brother and I had to use a shop vac to rid them and I still have the heebeejeebeez to this day just thinking about that experience. “Ok universe, I asked for abundance but not that kind of abundance.” I said.

People don’t believe me when i tell the story but my mom, aunt, brother and kids were my witnesses — my brother helped me suck them up with the shopvac. This story was something we will never forget to this day. Weird, uncanny…I’m scratching my head as I write this because the sight of the moths on my bedroom ceiling was just, I shall say ewww.

As time went on, I used the universe and God to guide me. I developed a vision board full of realistic goals, I continued to hold God close to my heart and prayed and thanked God about the past, present and future. I met my vision board goals a few years later.

These days, I notice angel numbers (numbers that repeat themselves) and I’ve started to take note of these signals and think that the universe is trying to tell me something.

The one thing that I noticed that stands out is that the law of attraction responds when things feel like it’s not going too well. For example: In the times I felt like I may be next in line to get a red notice that I was losing my job along with everyone else, I get a promotion instead. In times that I felt like I was about to lose a lot of money for things I can’t control, I receive money and with a new found positive outlook in life. The law of attraction made me realize that I have to work hard for the things I want in life and keep with it. The influences are there to steer your direction, but what it doesn’t tell folks is that they have to put effort into meeting their goals, and that you can’t sit there and hope that the law of attraction will be there doing it for you with no effort on your part, there needs to be some type of effort.

Manifestation (Crystal/Candle) Intentions: With some studying on YouTube and self-help books, I finally learned how to use “intention” correctly with crystals and candles that never again have I had a bout of moth infestation on my bedroom ceiling. LOL

Now THAT was a moment to remember.