Do you all believe in "signs"?

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Old 10-16-2004, 09:49 AM
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Do you all believe in "signs"?

This has been something that I've been pondering over for the past few months. And I don't mean to sound psychotic, but I'm really curious how you all feel about this sort of thing.
For example....I have noticed that after I have spoken on the phone with AH (who I am seperated from), I will sometimes begin to feel sad and second-guessing myself. ALmost every time this happens, I will receive a letter in the mail the following day for a late payment (again) that he's not paid, or someone will remind me of something that I haven't thought of in awhile, or whatever the case may be.
Now, are these things simply coincidence? Or really - are they signs to remind me of the reality of things?

One of those moments happened today as a matter of fact. AH called this morning to see if any of the kids were going to come spend the night with him tonight (our kid's make their own decisions as far as visitation). We spoke breifly about the dissolution, which makes me feel so sad that it has come to this. I started second-guessing myself again. Well, the kid's were asleep when he called so I had my daughter call him back later after her and my son decided if they were going or not. When I asked what time he was coming to pick them up, she told me that it would be a few hours because AH was going to attempt to go golfing after work!
(PLease note that the weather here is cold, windy, and raining. NOT your typical golfing weather)
My first thought honestly was "Well, the same old ****!" When my daughter asked what the look on my face was for, I told her, "Well, it's nice to see that Dad's priorities haven't changed".
Okay, maybe that was cruel of me - but she did ask what I was thinking (Even though I can guarantee that her and my son already knew. Therefore, I won't lie or sugar-coat anything if they ask because I want them to know that I am the one they can rely on and will not lie or betray them) But anyways.....

Whatcha think? Are these signs or just coincidence?
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Old 10-16-2004, 11:03 AM
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Definitely signs. I am a teacher and always tell my students on tests to trust their first instincts and don't second-guess themselves. If they change an answer b/c of second guessing themselves, they will almost always get it wrong. Same in life. You have a gut-feeling and know that you are and have been doing what needed to be done. The signs are your HP's way of telling you that you are right. And not that being right is what is important, by any means, but I think as the spouses of an A, we always second (or third or fourth...) guess our decisions naturally. Somehow, we have to start believing in ourselves. MUCH easier said than done, as I definitely have a difficult time practicing what I preach.
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Old 10-16-2004, 02:34 PM
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Standing -
This may be reading too much into this thing but here are my thoughts.

I used to look for justification of what I was doing - whether it was from other people or from "signs". I could never be sure that I was doing the right thing because I guess I didn't think I was good enough to make any major decisions on my own. I always wanted other opinions and I always needed somebody to tell me that I was doing the right thing.

One of things that my recovery has taught me is that I am perfectly capable of making a decision - no matter what anybody else thinks. When I know I'm right, I'm right. Even if I make a decision that turns out to be wrong, I'll still be OK. I can just handle that when it comes.

Maybe you are looking for "signs" that will prove to you that you are doing the right thing. You know whether you are doing the right thing or not without any signs. You just have to trust yourself and believe in yourself enough to really believe that. You don't need any signs.
Hugs - L
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Old 10-16-2004, 02:48 PM
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I am a firm believer in signs...In the past, I was too stupid, blinded or occupied to take note of them.

Being aware helps us pick up on the signals. Over time, you'll learn how to focus yourself and be aware when a sign presents itself. Myself, I know it, but what it means or what it's forecasting, I don't know.

One example of stupidity on our part when the signs presented itself over and over again. We had our house up for sale and 3 contracts fell through. My husband was diagnosed with skin cancer and I was worried about insurance and considered staying, but after 2 years it sold. We moved south for 2 1/2 months and went through hell trying to find jobs and trying to blend in since we are from the North and are considered "Yankees". One day, we asked ourselves what we were doing there in the first place and we couldn't find an answer. We immediately made the decision to come back home. Within 24 hours, I found a place to rent up home, my husband got his job back and I got a rental truck for half price.

God was trying to tell us that we weren't supposed to leave because what we were facing down South was a sign of things to come. Now, before making any decisions on anything, we wait for a sign before jumping into anything. We also go with gut feeling.

We do believe that God is always talking to us and trying to show us things, but because the issues of this world are blocking our line of communication, we're missing out on an awful lot.

Keep your focus on yourself. Be aware and try centering. As they say, live in the moment and life will present itself to you, moment by moment.

Grace, Kathy
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Old 10-16-2004, 03:02 PM
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Signs. My brother took care of our mother all his life and we both took care of both parents really the whole time we were growing up, but after our dad died, I got married and had a family, but our mother lived with my brother. He took care of her and the day she died I was so worried about him feeling lonely and I was lonely, but I had my family to go home to. He checked his mail and there was an envelope from a lawyer stating that our aunt had died and we were left in the will. More than a coincidence. Right when our mother died a freak storm came through with lightening, thunder, and hail. It is a long story, but this woman suffered most of her life, never complained of anything, and only did good. The storm was only right where she was. I live 8 miles or so from there and no rain or nothing here. Just something else for sure.
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Old 10-16-2004, 05:00 PM
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I do believe in signs. The Saturday after my husband died, I was laying in bed watching CMT and the song "Drive" came on by Alan Jackson. My hubby wasn't into music a whole lot but he loved that song and always had me put it on in the car with the speakers up. I never even saw the video before. When that song/video came on so soon after his death, I knew he was there with me.
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Old 10-16-2004, 05:44 PM
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I believe that they are signs. I believe that signs are all around us. My AH says its my way of looking for justification to leave..but I see the signs and THIS time instead of waiting for THIS TIME being different I am listening to the signs. The same signs that were there from the very beginning of our relationship.
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Old 10-16-2004, 06:21 PM
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signs, writing on the wall..... money&health problems,spiritual&emotional bankruptcy,joy,hate,wealth,pain,poverty. You get what you pay for,everthing you do comes back to you.......I guess we are all searching for evidence. We believe what we want to believe I think we leave sublimimnal messages to ourselves all over the place. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and fools gold. Do we really know the difference between good and evil right and wrong??????Do we really have to have a sign for that distinction?
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Old 10-16-2004, 08:32 PM
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Hey - I'm with ya! Whatever it is, it happens. I have started second -guessing my AH too about certain things, and then something very much like what you've said will happen. So, yes, I believe it 100%...
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Old 10-16-2004, 08:54 PM
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I do believe in positive, comforting signs like the ones posted above.
I also think that some of the negative 'signs' can be self-fullfilling gloom and doom.
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Old 10-16-2004, 10:26 PM
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Yes I believe in signs from above as well as guardian angles also. There has been several instinces I know that my life has been spared when it could have easily been taken. I have also believe in signs sometimes I refer to it as woman's intuition or womanly sixth sence. In the past when I have ignored it I regretted it now I try not to ignore it because I don't want to be sorry later.
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Old 10-17-2004, 06:57 AM
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A lady at my work came to me one day.She said,have you noticed that evertime that you come through these doors,that the same song is playing?Everytime she said.I worked in a store,and they played music all day long.Well no i hadnt.Didnt even notice it.My mind was was out of my scull at that time.With worry,stress,confused,,etc.It was during a very hard time in my life.No one at work new my home life,or even who i really was,an alcoholic.sober living with an active alcoholic,my hub.and he was hitting bottom big time..She said,well take notice.Her belief was that this was God,s way of giving me some kind of message.Hmmm,first ive ever heard of this.,,but,people have all kinds of beliefs,so i dont judge them anymore.With what mind did she think that i could pay attention with?..lol.Oh,well,i let it go.A few weeks later she asked me again if im taking notice?No,i wasnt.But i started to.At least it would help take my mind of my problems..lol,for a minute.Evertime i came to work,and i first enterd, that song played .Every store that had music,that i went to play it.,as i was entering,it played.That was the key to it all.It didnt play later,but whenever i first did something..It was on my car radio,whenever i first turned it on.It was played in my home,evertime that i first put my radio on.Weird or what.It wasnt that this song was new,it was an oldie.And it wasnt that the station just played this song.It was that everytime,i switched on my radio,or first entering any store,it was playing,as im coming through the doors.,or turning the radio on.The song was,,i can see clearly,now the rain is gone.Oh,boy what a song.I was barely making it one day at a time.Went back to the gal who frist had me notice this song.She said,that although i cant see clearly right now.All is well,and to have hope,faith,that things are as they should be.Looking back,she was right.Everything worked out good,,really good.This went on not for a week,or a day.This situation went on for months.Now yes i do believe in "signs".When im open to all experiences,without judgements,they are there.That gut feeling also..knows.I didnt have any gut feeling during that time,that i was aware of..I was, fried.I was totally tuned out,,outside and inside of myself.I allowed my pain to over ride anything else,inside of me,then.I may have had it,but wasnt paying too much attention to it..But the gut knows.Ya know when you know something.No one else has to agree.But you just know.I totally trust this today.That gut feeling.And today im open to the signs..
Thanks for letting me share..!!!!!
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Old 10-17-2004, 08:48 AM
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I believe very strongly in signs and intuition. A good example of this is that one day when my husband was at work, I got a call saying his brother had gone flying in his ultralight and was missing. Now I paniced because I pictured my brother-in-law laying in the woods somewhere bleeding to death or suffering from a broken leg (I was very, very fond of him and thought of him as my own brother). I was shaking trying to find the number for my husband's job in the phone book (he was not at the usual location that day) and I couldn't calm down. All of the sudden, I heard my brother-in-law's voice saying in his usual thick southern accent: "It's OK, everything will be alright." A very calm feeling came over me and I quickly calmed down and felt at peace--I knew at that instant (somehow) that my brother-in-law was dead, but he was still with us, just in a different sense. I calmly called my husband and explained that his brother was missing (I did not tell him I knewe Joe was dead). He left work and a few hours later they found my brother-in-law's body hanging in a tree with the ultralight--he had died instantly.

When my husband and his dad went home to tell his mother that Joe was dead, there was a Willie Nelson song playing on the radio (my brother-in-law loved Willie Nelson, and Elvis) the second they walked through the door. It was called "Angel Flying to Close to the Ground"). That is why Joe hit the tree, he was flying to low. And it was just the type of weird sense of humor he had to play a song like that in such an instant.

It all sounds crazy, I know, but someone remarked about how at peace I looked at Joe's funeral. I could feel his presence there (somehow) and sensed that he was very happy and surpised to see that nearly 500 people had showed up at his funeral (he was only 29 and had a lot of friends).

Recently when my husband had his near fatal car accident (and his 2nd DUI), I took him back to the crash sight to show him where it had happened and there was a dead dog laying EXACTLY in the spot where my husband's body had landed after being ejected from the car. I looked at him and told him that I thought it was a sign. There's this long stretch of road and the dead dog (that wasn't there three weeks ago when his accident happened) just happened to be in the exact spot he had been laying. He brushed it off and changed the subject, but I know, and my intuition is usually right, that that was a sign that the next accident will be his last if he continues on the same path. There were a lot of weird things about his accident too (but I've gone on to long already). He should have been killed (and some of the emergency crew thought he was a lot worse off then he was), but he got away with a compound fracture in his thigh, a broken shoulderblade, and a broken rib.
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Old 10-17-2004, 10:25 AM
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I've enjoyed everyone's sharing their stories. Thank you.

For me, it's always when I start missing AH or think that perhaps I'm making the wrong choice, or grieving the loss of all that will be done, etc. that some strange thing happens. And it's usually through the mail or a telephone call. A letter stating my son has been tardy again and now has detention (Concerning the son that lives with him), or a letter from the orthodontist showing concern for the lack of brushing, etc that my son (the same one that lives with AH) is displaying, or maybe it will be a bill that is overdue - a phone call about a payment overdue - cancellation notices, etc. While none of these have to do with drinking, they remind me of other issues that are still there. And they remind me that I DO NOT want to live my life like that anymore.
Yes, I could take him back and hope that it would change. But in reality, I believe that for it to change, I would have to take control of the finances as well as everything else as he hasn't shown me that he's really got it under control. I also believe that if he came back, he'd stop attending church. As it is now, AH is not working a program and that in itself scares me.
But the truth of the matter is, that sometimes I miss him so much. Sometimes I wonder if it's my pride that is standing so strong to not allow him back in to my heart. And then, something comes up to show me how my life may be the same if I were to take him back. Confusion, confusion, confusion.
Sometimes I just feel like I love him, I always will. He's been a part of my life since the 1st grade, we've been married 16 years. And yet while I grieve for everything - the reality is that he shouldn't have put us in this predicament anyways. I have given him so many chances. And I fear that if we got back together and it didn't work, I would despise and hate him - and that is something I don't wish to happen.
I know that I'm rambling and I apologize. Just sometimes I have a clear picture of how things must be - and at other times, I want to slip back into that hopeful person in hopes that it truly would be different this time. And yet reality stands here in front of me and shows me how it really is.
*sigh* Sometimes I just feel so helpless!
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Old 10-17-2004, 11:12 AM
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Hi! One of my firmest beliefs is that there is no such thing as coincidence .. it is simply God acting in our lives anonymously .. only with me His anonymity is broken, as I'm able to identify His loving actions more and more each day. Signs are there for us always ... what a blessing you're *seeing* them!

Soooo exciting.
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Old 10-18-2004, 06:25 AM
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Sometimes I just feel like I love him, I always will.

My H and I are separated - we were married 20 years. I know that I love him and that I always will love him. His name will probably be the name I call out on my death bed. That's fine with me and I don't need to change that.

Loving him and living the way I was living are two separate issues. I still treat him with respect and am loving towards him. In fact, it is much easier for me to be respectful and loving now that I'm not subjecting myself to a life I found unacceptable.

Once I was strong in my belief that my life was just as important as his and that his behavior was unlikely to change, loving him wasn't a bad thing anymore.

Love is not a trap - control is a trap.
Hugs - L
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Old 10-18-2004, 07:17 AM
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My AH and I are also separated - we were together 25 years. I know for certain that I still love him very much and always will. He is and always has been my soulmate. He is still the person I want to talk to when anything happens in my life or our kids lives.

I love him very much but am beginning to realize that he did the kids and I a favor by leaving. With him gone a lot of the confusion is gone although things are hard and we miss him very much.

With him here and having to watch he and his friends getting drunk almost daily and being subjected to the daily verbal abuse, I was losing the respect I had always had for my husband. Now I can love and respect him even if I can't live with him.

I am beginning to understand that he will not or can not change and that the kids and I are just as important as he is. We deserve to live our lives with repect for each other and for ourselves.

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Old 10-18-2004, 09:52 AM
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I believe in signs. Or what I would call "destiny" and what God's will is in our life. I was meant to marry my A to teach me some of life's hard lessons and I won't go into detail but the signs and the way it happened were very weird. Then we were meant to move to Colorado Springs. I really didn't like where we lived but I didn't want to move until my youngest was out of high school. The summer after his graduation, I got a job offer in Colorado Springs (I had never received one like that before). The company had just moved here and they were desperate for people so they offered me more than I would have normally been offered, they paid for our move to get me up here fast and put me up in a hotel for 2 months until my H could move here. Our house in AZ sold to the first person that looked at it.

Colorado Springs is a hot spot for Christians and since moving here I have given my life to the Lord. I truly believe that is why moving here was so easy.. I don't know if it would have happened if I had stayed in AZ.
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Old 10-18-2004, 07:42 PM
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more often than not, if something in my heart doesnt feel quite right, its a sign that i need to just let it go. other signs i get is hearing certain songs on the radio or having birds fly in my path and having such surreal experiences that i can feel the HP working through me. when i spend if but one minute a day to quiert my mind and say not now thoughts im resting, then i get a feeling pf peace and it opens my senses to god presence in so many things and i see butterflies flying so close or lyrics to song telling me to let go, or move on or be happy, it used to scare me , that tickle on my neck, but i fully believe in god now but and i dont have to doubt god, when i reached that point, it raised what i thought was rock bottom so even in my darkest days where the ball of rage in my chest is aflame i get feelings and little signs from telling me to remember things will be better soon through meetings prayer meditation faith and trust .
cheers
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Old 10-19-2004, 06:34 AM
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I do believe in signs. In working the 12 step program, I look for signs when I am seeking direction. If things aren't clear to me, I wait until I feel that I have clarity. I listen and watch, because I feel that I get signs all the time, and that when I am aware and searching, that they will give me answers.

I have gone from believing in signs, to actually having some faith that those signs are there for my benefit. Gut feelings, other people's experience, and seeming coincidences are all part of that. I think it is being in touch with the spiritual part of life. It is the healing that my soul was longing for.

Learning to be prepared for signs, and not always the ones I want, takes practice. They don't always come in the time I think they should. Waiting takes practice too. Hugs, Magic

Last edited by Magichappens; 10-19-2004 at 06:36 AM. Reason: added more
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