The Great Unlocking (or Lessons from the Hanged Man)

Each night long after dark I walk down the wide, expansive beach until the city noise and light pollution fade into the distance and all I can hear is the ocean roar. I need a sign. I need this energy to move. I needed a sign on what to do about my dilemma. I had planned to be in Da Nang until the end of August, but within the first week, my nervous system was already shot.

There is a sense of urgency and unrest that permeates every facet of Da Nang, and it unnerved me to the core. Each passing day became a test of patience and tolerance from the non-stop jackhammer outside my apartment window to the blasting music around every corner and relentless horn honking down every road. I expected this in the big cities and even in the city center of Da Nang, but here on the beach?

My life in this coastal city was not unfolding as I had planned. I had envisioned digging deep into my novel revision and the new practices I wanted to cultivate. But like the saying goes, make plans then allow something better to happen. Maybe that's not a saying, but it should be.

On my walk back to my apartment one night, I got my sign--literally. It was the sign outside of a bar on the street where I live. Lit up and glaring--the Hanged Man.

If you practice Tarot, you already know where this is going. The hanged man represents a clear sign to stop trying to control situations and to slow down and listen and let go and allow natural shifts in perspective--allow the universe to keep you suspended in mid-air, upside down. And from this perspective, where parts of the mind unlock that would have otherwise not, is where light can shine in the dark and the unknown can be discovered.

There was nothing I could do about my environment, not right away anyway so I allowed something better to happen. I got out of the city and discovered Vietnam in a way I might not have had things unfolded as I planned.

Driving around the Son Tra Peninsula for hours, taking long coastal routes all the way to Hue, hiking into untouched, magic jungles--this is where time stops and the infinite power of the present lingers, this is where egos diminish and all that's left standing is the soul in awe of its sovereign existence.

From the road, taking in the landscape--the inescapable beauty of deserted jungle roads, breathtaking coastline views from mountain passes, quiet, surreal villages--this is where clarity resurfaces, visions crystallize, and my soul remembers why I was brought here.

There is something about the expansiveness of the ocean and open road that bursts me open to receiving messages and gifts and energy. It puts me at ease and fills me up so I can go back into the world and live and write and simply be.

When we stop trying to force things to happen in our lives or even wish for things to be different is when the better path, the better plan presents itself. It is an alchemical process of co-creation with the infinite that can't so much be explained but only experienced. I know this lesson all too well--it's what got me here, on the other side of the world, following my curiosity. It's what keeps me moving forward in a perpetual state of awe and gratitude.

Have you had experiences where instead of forcing your life to work as you planned you simply surrendered to a new perspective and allowed magic to unfold? Tell me your stories!