Today is St. Patrick's day and I am reminded of all the lucky four leaf clovers that my dear friend James found during his lifetime. He would just bend down and pick them up without even looking. I believe that all that luck he collected is now going out to his friends and family as I feel his presence and know with certainty that he is looking out for us all. This past year I started finding heart shaped rocks. On one walk I found 21 heart shaped rocks...pretty much every rock I picked up was heart shaped even if I hadn't noticed that from afar. To me this was a sign of love from nature. I felt appreciated by spirit and knew with confidence that my angels were there with me helping me through the struggles in my life. We used to find a penny and pick it up for good luck but now pennies are not in circulation anymore. I have heard of loonies for luck and remember that during the winter olympics in Salt Lake City the expert Canadian ice maker put a loonie under centre ice and both the Canadian women's and men's hockey teams won gold. This created a story of olympic magic that continues as Canadian athletes have buried loonies at golf venues, beach volleyball and even in the lining of an olympic swimming pool. Many of us have other lucky items like a special hat, a certain pair of socks and special family heirlooms like a necklace or an old watch that connect us to a family tradition of luck. I believe that putting meaning into these items can help us to stay positive and to see the silver linings in life.
About a year ago I started finding random dimes by themselves in unusual places. Over 3 days I found about 11 single dimes and then I couldn't believe the synchronicity when I walked into my favorite store down by the PG library, Injoy, and I saw a display for little jars and a sign that said Dimes from Heaven. This was a charity project for Hospice and the story was about a family who believed that their dear mom in heaven was leaving dimes for them to find as a message of her love and support. I continue to find a lot of random dimes especially when I am going through something difficult and know for sure that my loved ones that are gone are letting me know that they are still there watching over me and sending me little messages to light my way. After James passed my youngest daughter and I were talking about dimes from heaven and decided that when we found a quarter it would be from Uncle James. Only moments later she started to make her bed and found a quarter under the blankets right in the middle of her bed. We both smiled and laughed and I had a weird thought of hundred dollar bills. I know when thoughts are not mine and really come from spirit...placed in my mind at interesting moments. I now believe that quarters are a symbol of abundance and appreciation...abundance is not just about money, we can be abundant in many areas of our life and the more we have appreciation for what we already have the more abundance comes into these areas of our life. I am grateful to be alive and healthy and to have my family and friends around me. Interestingly, I told a few of Jamie's family members about the hundred dollar bill thought in my mind and they had stories to tell me of James having pockets full of hundred dollar bills all the time.
When we give meaning to little things in our life it helps generate hope for ourselves and for others and with hope we become invincible. Hope is the single thing we need to see the glass half full instead of half empty. Hope lets us know that we are not alone and that somewhere out there someone else is struggling with the same addiction, the same grief and the same heartbreak. So now we have pennies and loonies for luck, dimes from heaven that show us the love from our passed family and friends and quarters for abundance and appreciation.
I haven't forgotten about nickels and I especially love the little beaver on those Canadian coins. To me a beaver is about working hard, productivity, accomplishment and also teamwork and cooperation. When I find a nickel I know that something that I have been working towards will be coming to fruition and that success is eminent. I know it is time to express my gratitude for the support and guidance that I receive daily and I am also open that the nickel might represent a thank you from my guides. Often I feel that my guides are thanking me for the work that I have done and the messages that I have received and listened to putting their advice into action and helping to create a better world.
So there is only one coin left and that is the Toonie. Toonies make me think of several things like watching Saturday mornings cartoons with my brother and sister as a kid, hanging out with my best friends and dancing with my husband. I know that the relationships in our life are sometimes for a reason, a season or a lifetime. And I also know that there are many times that I don't thank the people in my most important relationships for all that they do for me. So my intention for finding toonies is to send love to those people in my life that mean the world to me and I hold the intention that they might be finding a toonie from me and thinking about a special time that we had together.
My hope with these stories is to spread luck, love, abundance and appreciation out into the world. A simple act of finding a coin can bring a smile to our face, give us confidence, remind us to show gratitude or set an intention so that we can act with purpose and create a life of happiness. There are many things in the world today that are outside of our circle of control but our own actions and our ability to see the world from a positive perspective is within our control. Let's create a ripple of positivity together.
This Article is in memory of our Best Man James Ploeger March 6, 1973 to February 26, 2021. "Miss you so much but feel your spirit with me always." Love Melanie
