I was 35 years old, driving somewhere I don't
even remember now, when I felt this sudden, almost
irrational pull to turn down a road I hadn't
been down in years. I almost didn't do it. I
remember sitting at that light and this little
voice saying, you're being crazy. Just keep going.
But I turned down the road anyway. And as I pulled
up to the next stoplight, I looked up looked
around me and there was a car stopped at that
same light and on its license plate was my name,
C -A -R -A. I have the photo to prove it. What
happened next is one of those stories I've told
a hundred times because it still gives me chills
every single time and because it didn't just
change where I lived, it changed everything.
It's set into motion a season of my life so full
of growth, of magic, of surrender, that I can
trace a direct line from that moment to sitting
here with you right now. That's what we're talking
about today. The nudge, the knowing, the signs
that life leaves when it's trying to get your
attention, and what becomes possible when you
actually follow them. Hi. I'm Cara. I believe
every woman carries a vision of who she longs
to become, and that's no accident. Grab your
favorite beverage and settle into a cozy spot,
because this is that kind of conversation. That
quiet knowing you're meant for more? It's not
wishful thinking, but a calling on your heart.
And every soul calling deserves an answer. Not
someday, today. right now. Together, we'll explore
what it really means to be her now. The healing,
the worthiness, the work, the becoming. Because
none of us were meant to figure this out on our
own. Whatever brought you here today, trust it.
You belong here. or welcome for the first time.
I'm so glad you're here. Today we're talking
about synchronicity. And before you decide that's
too woo -woo for you, stay with me. Because I'm
not here to tell you what to believe. I'm here
to invite you to pay attention to your own life.
Because I think if you look closely enough, you'll
find it's been trying to talk to you for a long
time. Synchronicity is a word coined by the psychologist
Carl Jung. Essentially it's the experience of
meaningful coincidence. Two things happening
at the same time that feel connected in a way
that goes beyond pure chance. But I think it's
bigger than that definition. I think synchronicity
is life confirming you're on the right path or
redirecting you when you're not. Call it God,
the universe, Source your higher self your intuition
Whatever language feels true to you. I'm not
here to tell you what to name it I'm here to
tell you it's real and it's been speaking to
you your whole life Most of us have already felt
it. We just don't always trust it Today, I want
to change that Before I finish the story I started
in the beginning. I want to talk about the quieter
version of how this shows up. Because synchronicity
doesn't always arrive like a lightning bolt.
Sometimes it's so subtle, you almost miss it.
For me, it often shows up as a deep knowing,
not a feeling exactly, more like a certainty
that arrives without explanation. Don't take
the road, there will be a train. Don't make that
decision yet, something is still coming. And
I cannot tell you how many times I overrode that
knowing and proved myself wrong. Every single
time I would take the road, there would be a
train, both literally and symbolically. There
was a moment in my early 20s. I was driving and
looked up at the clouds for just a second. And
out of the corner of my eye, they shifted. In
my peripheral vision, they looked like mountains.
And I knew in that instant that I needed to move
back to Durango, Colorado, that my adventure
there wasn't finished yet. Something was still
waiting for me and I did it. I packed up and
I went back and that season became one of the
most transformative of my inner life I've ever
had. These nudges don't always come with a neon
sign. Sometimes they come as a flicker, a whisper.
a feeling in your chest that doesn't have words
yet. The question isn't whether they're real.
The question is, are you paying attention? And
when you feel it, do you trust it? Most of us
don't, at least not at first, because we've been
taught to trust logic over instinct, data over
feelings, other people's opinions over our own
inner knowing. And so we override the nudge.
We take the road. we run into the train and file
it away as just coincidence. But what if it's
not? I want to back up just a little because
I think there's something important here that's
easy to miss. I didn't walk into that season
of my life as someone who followed her gut freely
and fearlessly. Quite the opposite. And I want
to continue the story, but I think this is important
for context. I was raised to be incredibly cautious,
and I was raised that way out of love, but I
grew up with fear as my default setting. The
world was something to be careful of, not something
to lean into. So when I tell you that in the
months leading up to that license plate moment,
I took a solo trip to Seattle, I tried rock climbing,
I taught myself to play keyboard, I went to a
concert all alone in St. Louis, began studying
personal growth and spirituality with real intention.
I need you to understand what that meant for
me. Those were not small things. For the girl
who learned to hide when the doorbell rang, these
were enormous. I had started opening my life,
quietly, steadily, one brave yes at a time. I
had started living in conscious communion with
something much bigger than myself, holding reverence,
staying in this constant conversation, feeling
into my life instead of just moving through it.
And I think that's why the signs started showing
up so clearly. Not because the universe suddenly
decided to pay attention to me, but because I
had finally gotten quiet and open enough to receive
what had probably been there all along. You can't
follow a flow you've never stepped into. So if
you're sitting there thinking, okay, that's a
neat story, but My life isn't sending me license
plates. I want to gently ask you, are you open?
Are you moving? Are you saying yes to the small
things that scare you just a little? Because
I think that's where it starts. But with a small,
brave yes. And then another. And then another.
And then one day you look up at a stoplight and
you see your name. Okay. Let's go back to that
stoplight. It was early January in 2015. I'd
been staying with my mom for a couple of months
in between living situations, in between a lot
of things, honestly. I was driving and I genuinely
don't remember where I was going, but out of
nowhere I felt this pull, this strong, very specific
urge to go visit an old apartment complex I'd
lived in a few years before. This wasn't just
any apartment. The location had been perfect.
It was tucked at the back of a property overlooking
this big green belt with the most incredible
sunsets. And it also wasn't crazy fancy either.
It was pretty dated, but it was cozy. It was
just the right size. It was on the second floor,
quiet, and it was convenient to everything that
I needed. I also had a history there. I had dated
someone while I lived there. And it had been
kind of a complicated season. There was a lot
of emotion. And I had this feeling, I can't explain
it any other way, that I just wasn't done there,
that something was unfinished. So I followed
it. I turned toward the complex. And as I approached
the light, that moment I told you about in the
beginning, I started to second guess myself.
Am I being crazy? What am I even doing? and I
looked up and the car stopped at the light next
to me at a personalized license plate that said
Kara. My name. I took a photo because even in
that moment I knew that this is real and I need
to remember this. I went ahead and turned down
the road and pulled into the complex. I walked
into the office and the attendant called from
the back room that she'd be right with me. When
she came out, I asked if she had anything available
at the back of the property overlooking the green
belt. I told her I wasn't interested in anything
except for that. She said she thought she actually
did, and as she walked back to check, she muttered
almost totally to herself that she thought it
was in a specific building number. It was the
building I used to live in. And in that moment,
before she even came back out, I knew. I just
knew it was my old apartment. She came back and
told me the unit. It was apartment 3524, my exact
apartment. I will never forget that moment. I
told her I'd take it on the spot, no tour needed.
I didn't have a checkbook with me that I knew
of. So I went out to my car and dug through my
glove compartment, which at that point in my
life, we will say was very lived in and found
an old checkbook tucked in the back of the glove
box. the address printed on the checks was still
that apartment address. I wrote her a check right
then and there, and I moved in very shortly after.
Now, you can call that coincidence if you want,
but I never have been able to because every single
element, the pull I felt, the doubt that crept
in, the confirmation at the stoplight, the knowing
before she spoke, The address on the checks.
It all lined up way too perfectly. Too specifically.
Something was making absolute sure I didn't miss
it. That is synchronicity. That's the flow of
your life trying to guide you home. And that
was just the beginning. Here's what I want you
to understand about following a nudge. It rarely
leads to just one thing. It leads to the next
right thing. and the next, which lead you to
the next right thing. Like a trail of breadcrumbs
laid out by something that can see so much further
down the road than you can. It opens up to so
much more than that one initial feeling. Watching
the sunsets over that green belt I had always
loved. I started meditating regularly. I started
a gratitude practice. I decided to mark the new
beginning by doing something I'd never done before.
A week -long juice feast. Just fruits and vegetables,
nothing else for what turned out to be 10 days.
Though I let my body decide how long I would
go. Was it a little extreme? Yeah, maybe. But
my body responded like it had been waiting for
exactly that for a very long time and healed
in a way I hadn't expected. Another nudge followed.
Then one day, another whim, another pull. I bought
a pair of hiking boots. I hadn't been a hiker.
I wasn't even really outdoorsy in that way, but
something said to get them, so I did. And before
I'd even worn them once, I posted a picture about
them on my Instagram. That post led to a friend
reaching out to invite me on a week long hiking
trip to Big Bend National Park. Now, as I mentioned,
I was not a risk taker in that way. This was
not the kind of thing I said yes to. A week in
the wilderness, primitive camping, I might add.
So no restrooms, no running water, no electric.
Some of the most remote terrain in the country
with someone I hadn't seen or hung out with in
about a decade. The old me would have found a
very polite way to decline. But I said yes. And
it was one of the most magical experiences of
my entire life. I'd been working on a practice
during that season, trying to make my very first
waking thought each morning right into consciousness.
Simply, thank you. Just gratitude before anything
else, before the to -do list, before the worry,
before the phone. Just thank you. I hadn't quite
nailed it yet. And then on the last morning,
camped in the Chisos Mountains, I woke up. And
my first thought was thank you. I lay there in
my sleeping bag in the mountains and just received
it. That moment still lives in me. When I got
home, I started hiking everywhere. I discovered
that the green belt behind my apartment was actually
a park with trails. I'd access it through a gap
in the fence where the posts were missing. my
own secret entrance to something beautiful that
had been right there the whole time and I'd had
no idea. One night I was sitting on the balcony
when I heard this rhythmic thundering from the
bushes below just outside the fence line. It
got louder and the bushes began to shake and
rustle really violently. I froze. I couldn't
move for a full minute. and then out walked a
stag. He was enormous, nearly the height of the
fence, and he just walked out of the dark and
stood there. I don't have words for what that
felt like, but it felt like confirmation, like
nature itself showing up to say, you're exactly
where you're supposed to be. And then one night,
sitting with all of that aliveness, I had a conversation
out loud with God and I said something I meant
with every fiber of my being. I am terrible at
finding the right match for myself. I give up.
I'm turning this over to you entirely. You handle
it and I will be down here working on myself.
It was this moment of complete and total surrender
in a way I had not felt before. Not defeat. But
surrender and there's a big difference Defeat
says I can't do this Surrender says I trust you
more than I trust my own navigation on this one.
So I'm handing it to you a Friend forwarded me
one of those old chain messages because remember
those it was kind of near the start of Facebook
Messenger and so it was in virtual form and This
one was about Archangel Michael about turning
over your life completely to be revamped. And
it was just on the heels of this moment of out
loud surrender. And it was about trusting the
process of transformation, even when you can't
see where it's going. And so I said yes to this
too. And literally in less than 24 hours, I met
my wife. I have to tell you the story because
it is the most perfect illustration of what surrender
actually looks like in real life. I was working
at an organic grocery store and one evening a
musician came in to play a gig, which wasn't
unusual at all. But the moment she walked through
that door, I felt something, this enormous spark
out of nowhere. I was standing next to a coworker
who knew me well enough to know that what happened
next was completely out of character for me.
But I, while staring at this gorgeous woman,
said, And I'm not proud of how this came out.
Dibs. I felt my coworker's slow head turn toward
me. Totally shocked. And I was so embarrassed,
I disappeared into the office for the next hour.
But then, once she was set up, this musician
started playing. And she played every song I
would have put on a mixtape. Every single song
felt like it came from inside my own head. Like
she was playing back My life to me through music
that evening. I had a text conversation with
my best friend and I told her I had met this
gorgeous musician I Described how I felt when
she walked in I talked about The music being
something that my best friend and I would have
put on mixed tapes And I didn't describe her
beyond that at all No physical description, no
specifics, just that. The very next morning,
I was sitting on my couch, drinking my coffee,
and my best friend sends me a message on Instagram.
And it's a video of this woman, whose name I
did not know, whose description my best friend
did not have, playing music at a farmer's market.
My best friend had found her completely independently.
and sent her to me with the question, is this
her? You literally can't make this stuff up.
So here I have three confirmations of sorts.
The spark, the music, my friend's DM in less
than 24 hours. This musician kept coming in for
gigs here and there, and eventually we started
interacting a bit. We texted some because I asked
her to... participate in a fundraiser I was organizing
for an organization that my company supported.
And eventually through this series of interactions,
we hung out in person for the first time. And
shortly after a meeting or two, I went on the
Big Ben trip I mentioned. When I came home, I
went to my now wife's birthday party just as
a friend and watched her play a gig. And that
was sort of our first real introduction into
being in each other's lives, very much still
as friends at this point, but with this deep
pull to just know one another better. Eventually
one thing led to another and we were about to
go out on our first real date. And just before
I'm about to step into this next level of intimacy
with my now good friend, I lost my job. In any
other season of my life, that would have felt
like total devastation. But I had just surrendered
several months earlier. I had just said, take
everything that doesn't belong, revamp it all,
I trust you. And so instead of devastation, what
I felt was something closer to, okay, something
is making room. And so instead of going home
and sulking and worrying, I went on a hike. And
I just sat in the possibility that this not knowing
what's next held. Everything that didn't belong
had to crumble to make space for what did. And
my wife and I, fortunately for me, when I shared
with her that I had lost my job, she did not
waver. And we have been together ever since.
But the thread continues. And here's the part
that still takes my breath away when I think
about it. The job that I got after the one I
lost was in banking. Now, not exactly where you'd
expect this story to go, but somehow following
nudge after nudge, one brave yes at a time, I
found myself in the position in a very corporate
very structured banking environment to be able
to teach success principles and life skills and
healthy coping practices to an entire line of
business of 203 people. The same principles that
I would eventually use to build this podcast
around. To Be Her Now didn't start when I hit
record for the first time. It started in that
conference room at a bank. which started with
the hiking boots, which started with the apartment,
which started with a license plate at a red light
that said my name. Your life has a thread and
it has been weaving something whole this entire
time, even in the seasons that felt like unraveling.
I wonder, can you see it? When you look back,
Can you trace even sections of that thread if
the rest of the piece hasn't come together just
yet? Okay, I want to give you something real
to take with you because this isn't just a beautiful
idea, it's a practice. And like any practice,
it gets stronger the more you use it. So how
do you recognize a sign versus fear or wishful
thinking? Fear has a frantic energy. It's loud,
contracted, urgent. It wants you to move away
from something. And that's probably the biggest
indicator you're operating from fear. Wishful
thinking has a grasping quality. It's attached
to a specific outcome. It's quieter, more settled.
It doesn't need you to do anything dramatic.
It just points. It's less run and more turn here.
And oftentimes it comes with a confirmation.
something outside of you that echoes what you
already feel inside. Pay attention to those confirmations.
They are not accidents. So how do you quiet the
noise and hear your intuition? Intuition doesn't
shout. It speaks in the quiet, in the shower,
on a walk, in that half -awake space before your
brain fully powers on in the morning, on a hike,
in prayer, in meditation, in stillness. If you're
not creating any quiet in your day, that's the
perfect place to start. Not because you're doing
anything wrong, but because she, the woman you
long to become, can't get a word in if you never
stop moving. Give her some space. She has a lot
more to say than you think. Now here's what to
do when you get a nudge, but you feel totally
crazy for following it. Follow it anyway. Start
small if you need to. Turn down the road. Buy
the hiking boots. Post about them before you've
even worn them. Say yes to the wilderness trip,
even though it scares you. You don't have to
have a plan. You just have to take the next step
that feels true. And then, notice what happens.
Because when you're flowing with the current
of your own life, things tend to line up. Not
always perfectly or immediately. But there's
a quality of ease. One thing leading naturally
to the next. When you're going against the grain,
things tend to feel forced. Like you're pushing
a door that isn't meant to open. Your life has
a current. You can swim against it or you can
learn to flow with it. One feels very exhausting
and the other feels like grace. So how do you
see the thread when you're looking back? over
your life. I want to invite you to do something
after this episode. Sit down somewhere quiet
and trace the thread of your own life. Think
about the moments that changed everything, the
decision that didn't make logical sense but turned
out to be exactly right, the thing you almost
didn't do, the road you almost didn't turn down.
Can you see the way your life has been quietly,
consistently moving you towards something? The
way Even the painful seasons had some something
in them that you needed for where you are now.
That's not an accident. That's not luck. That's
you in collaboration with something bigger than
you living a life that has always been on its
way somewhere. Trust that. Follow that. Be curious
about that. She's been guiding you all along.
I want to leave you with something to carry into
your week. The next time you feel a nudge, a
pull, a knowing, a whisper that doesn't quite
make logical sense, pause before you override
it. Just pause. Ask yourself, is this fear talking
or is this something deeper? And if it feels
like something deeper, follow it, even just a
little. I know some of us have kids or we have
other people relying on us and so it doesn't
feel like we can make big leaps and that's okay.
Just look at the little ways that you can turn
down the road and see what's at the next light.
Because here's what I know to be true. The life
you are meant to live is not hiding from you.
It is actively, creatively, sometimes hilariously
trying to get your attention. It will put your
name on a license plate if it has to. It will
send your best friend a video of the woman you're
going to marry. It will leave your old address
on a checkbook in a messy glove compartment just
to make sure you don't miss it. You are being
guided. You always have been. Whatever brought
you here today, trust it. You belong here. Until
next time, be her now. Not someday, today.