Your Poetry Oracle: Week of April 3, 2023

A poem to inspire the week ahead

Welcome to our very first Poetry Oracle. Every week, I’ll be sharing a poem from one of my books to inspire and illuminate your week. I’ll select the weekly poem (or poems) by trusting my intuition, the very thing I hope you’ll start to do as a member of this self love community.

Of all the poems I’ve written, the one that has perhaps stayed with me personally the most is this one: “I finally found my rhythm when I realized that even the steps backward were part of the dance.” (Self Love Poetry: for Thinkers & Feelers). Even though I published this poem as part of my first poetry book, that isn’t where I first shared it. I wrote this poem on Instagram on May 20, 2020, four days before my 38th birthday. Little did I know at the time, how much my life was about to change.

Thanks to the pandemic, 2020 was the year I decided to finally let go of the linear path I had so cautiously and strategically been navigating my entire adult life. What is the linear path? In my case it was defined by choosing the safest, most achievement-oriented option at all times. It meant getting straight As, going to the best college I could, double-majoring (even though it meant not being able to take a single elective), and becoming a lawyer (even though in my soul I knew it wasn’t right). From there it meant becoming a wife and mother, all while launching and running two businesses simultaneously, and always running forward and up as fast as I possibly could (no matter the cost to my mental and physical health, which was significant). 2020 was going to be the year I doubled my businesses, and set them up for a big lucrative exit — the elusive pot of gold that would justify all the work I had put in as an entrepreneur for over a decade.

But in May of 2020, I got off the tightrope, and instead started to dance. Forward and backward now of equal value as each step became more about moving my body and feeling my existence than proving something to my ego and the world. I stopped filling every single moment with productivity. I stopped worrying about growing and selling my businesses. For the first time, I focused instead on healing my mind and body.

Sharing the tattoo reader Elizabeth got of my poem, one of the greatest honors of my lifetime.

It’s amazing how the universe conspires in your favor when you’re ready to honor yourself. I successfully self-published Self Love Poetry in October, got a book deal a few months later, and now I’m doing the work I was always meant to do, as a poet, author and community builder. Nevermind that I self-published my first book in 2010 after being denied by 75 agents and publishers, and walked away from writing for almost 10 years because I felt like such a failure at the time.

Per the linear path, I’m a failed attorney, entrepreneur and even author before anything else. But this is the beauty of the dance: time fades away, and all that matters is the transcendent feeling of knowing that as long as you are alive, you are exactly where you need to be. It may have taken 10 years for me to get here, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

Update: shortly after I finished drafting this newsletter, someone new followed me on Instagram. When I asked how they found me, they said a guide read one of my poems during a guided meditation today on The Path. When I asked her which one, she said it was this one. This is the magic of intuition, which connects you not only to yourself, but to the whole universe. Today is the day to start listening to yours.

Is there a setback you’ve experienced that you now see as a blessing? Can you get off the tightrope and instead start to dance? Has your intuition spoken to you lately? What did it say? Leave a comment and let me know if this poem speaks to you.