On the 2nd of this month, we ushered in a new moon and experienced a solar eclipse marking something that takes place every 18 years. While reading up on what all this means, I learned that something is being eclipsed out of your life and a new beginning is about to take place. You sync you up to a life path that is more aligned with who you really are and brings truths to light so that you can proceed with a fuller, more open perspective. Considering what’s going on in my life that is unsurprising.
I was encouraged to think about what happened in my life in 2001, as this was a similar time period and I could expect a similar theme since now 18 years later.
In 2001 I moved to Paris to study at Parsons School of Design. I spent a glorious year in Europe becoming more of who I was. I practiced my French, lived on cheese, bread, and wine and spent countless hours wandering museums, bookstores, parks, and the occasional boîte.
It confirmed my feeling that Europe was my place, a feeling I had had ever since my first trip to Barcelona back in 1996. I loved the civility, the architecture, the history, the pace of life and standing in line at the Tabac people watching. Or more accurately people watching me. You try being in line to buy cigarettes with Birkenstocks and socks on amongst the chic French women without eliciting a stare. I wanted to shout out – “I just live around the corner and ran out. I didn’t have this on all day!”, but then figured who cares. Let them stare because that meant I could stare at them. Apparently staring is acceptable in France.
I have always felt the same sense of connection to California. I like the vibe here. The commitment to health, the pursuit of hobbies, creativity and a liberal, trendsetting way of thinking. The fact that the State has sued the Trump administration 50 times and that houses are built into the sides of cliffs.
You can be a 86 year old tattooed, pot-smoking grandma who does yoga in a leopard catsuit and no one blinks an eye. I like that there are beaches, mountains, and the city. That there is plant-based everything and Farmers markets galore. My plants can live outside year-round if they want and flip flops are considered shoes. I don’t like the traffic, the homelessness (its a real problem), and depending on what area of town you are in the implants and botox can be extreme, but as in life, you take the good with the bad.
The fact that I am making this move now and that it lines up with the theme of 2001 is super exciting to me. The growth I experienced that year was tremendous. As a young woman in my twenties, it grounded me further in myself and taught me to trust my intuition and follow my heart no matter what. That move to Paris sparked a series of essential life experiences and lessons that have shaped who I am.
Over the years I have continued to do that. To trust that I will be supported in my desires as long as I am aligning with my true self. I’ve learned that things always work out how and when they are supposed to even when you can’t see it at the time. Just like in 2001, that move was the result of a feeling and desire that had been 5 years brewing. Same is true in 2019. The idea of Highbrow Hippie was also sparked 5 years ago and now here I am; leaning into the eclipse season, going with the flow and continuing to become more of who I am. Let the West coast adventure begin….
