High Vibes Won’t Turn a Rattlesnake into a Bunny
I was out hiking in the chaparral, surrounded by dense cactus, woody plants, and shrubs on either side of my trail. As I came up over a rise, there—right on the path—were two rattlesnakes doing the “Brown Chicken Brown Cow” dance.
For a split second, I thought, What do I do?
Which was absolutely silly because there was only one option.
Turn around and go the other way.
The interesting thing? Just moments before, I’d been daydreaming and distracted. But some subtle gut instinct pulled my attention to the trail seconds before my snake encounter. And that same gut instinct didn’t entertain my ridiculous What do I do? question for even a second. It just rolled its eyes and answered loud and clear: Pivot!
Not Everything Requires a Spiritual Epiphany—Just Walk Away
Life is full of moments like this—where the smartest option (and the loudest gut-advice) is to simply walk away. But instead of listening, we love to play mental gymnastics:
What if I do this instead?
Maybe if I vibrate high enough…
Maybe if I LOVE this situation enough, I can change it.
Where do you think all our airy-fairy, new-age, hocus-pocus teachings come from? If we stopped second-guessing our crystal-clear, gut-level “walk the f*ck away” instincts, we wouldn’t need some channeled angel or invisible spirit guide to tell us what we already know. But hey, I get it—spiritual beings tend to package the same common-sense advice in longer sentences and fancier words—so there’s that.
And when “they” do tell you exactly what your gut is screaming at you? Do you listen? Or do you go searching for another book, another ancient teaching, another invisible guide—hoping to find someone who will give you permission to stay in a situation you should have left yesterday?
Quit Throwing Good Vibes at Bad Situations
Years ago, I was camping in the desert with my dog. The morning we were set to leave, we woke up to dark, stormy, thundering clouds. Every instinct in me was screaming to pack up and get the hell out of there.
But did I listen?
Nope.
I stubbornly stuck to my motto, The Universe always has my back! and decide to take my dog for a walk in a rapidly worsening, life-threatening environment.
Can’t you just see my “guardian angel” dropping their face into their hands at that moment? Even my dog—who usually sprinted ahead—didn’t want to leave the campsite. But did that stop me? No, I just had to play out my "Nothing bad can happen to me!" fantasy a little longer.
It wasn’t until lightning struck the ground several hundred yards in front of us—followed by a deafening, immediate boom of thunder—that I finally snapped out of it. Cue the both of us sprinting back to my car.
Minutes—literally minutes—after we jumped into the car, a wall of hail and water unleashed, flooding everything around us. Fortunately, I had half-listened to my instincts enough to pack up camp and park on a rise before making my idiotic decision to go for a walk.
If You Have to Convince Yourself, You Already Have Your Answer
Stop serving good vibes to things, people, and ideas that simply require a goodbye.
Your internal guidance is always crystal clear. Your walking away isn’t personal to anyone but you—it serves YOU. (Truly—puppets can’t take anything personally unless you direct them to. But that’s another blog.)
And before anyone chimes in with “But everything happens for a reason! Everything is a lesson!”—let’s get real.
Not everything requires a long, drawn-out learning experience. Some things are just obvious no’s. The lesson isn’t some mystical, divine test of endurance—it’s just: walk the hell away.
Existence is about ease, growth, expansion, and knowing more and more of the badass Creator you are. Your guidance is not unclear—not even a little. The information and direction you’re seeking is deafening if you would just listen.
And if the path you’re on is no longer in your best interest…
Trust the screwing snakes that Life puts on the trail.
#BeBold
😎Kristen
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