A friend of ours bought a house we had also considered buying. We had all felt a weird vibe from the listing agent. Our friend bypassed the agent and insisted on presenting his offer directly to the homeowner--it was accepted.
 
When he told me, I exclaimed, “That’s soooo cool!!! I didn’t know you could do that!! Wow!”

Then curiously, “How did you know you could talk to the owner directly?”
 
His answer shook me awake like smelling salts.
 
Susan, there are no rules. You can do what you want. Nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all just making it up as we go along.
 
What?!?!
 
For a dedicated rule follower, this was a revelation!

Fast forward a few years to December 2019. We hiked four days in the Andes Mountains, up to Machu Picchu (where I channeled the Earth Healing Meditation). During the trek, we met two brothers, 19 and 16 years old, traveling on their own.

They weren’t vagabonding; they were brother bonding.
 
They hadn’t lived in the same home, much less continent, since their whole family had lived in China several years prior. When his family moved to California, the then 15-year-old older brother convinced his parents to let him enroll in a boarding school so he could stay in China for high school.
 
His parents agreed and the brothers were separated.
 
What?!?! A 15-year-old can live in a foreign country, alone? For four years? Young siblings can be separated across oceans without creating trauma?
 
“The Brothers,” as we fondly called them, decided to reconnect by hiking this iconic and ancient trail. These “kids” beguiled us with their stories and world views. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had another smelling-salts moment. My  16-year-old daughter decided she, too, would like to study overseas.
 
As you know, I studied abroad during college, so assumed my daughter would fulfill her wish when she was older like I had been. The Covid quarantine with closed schools, remote learning, isolation from friends, and lack of sports cracked open our way of living and traditional thinking.
 
Susan, there are no rules. You can do what you want. Nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all just making it up as we go along.
 
That crack created enough space to illuminate this idea: she could finish her last two years of high school in Sweden.

Our daughter applied to and was accepted into an International Baccalaureate program in Stockholm. We originally thought she would rent a room and live with a family, but when that didn’t pan out, we decided to lease an apartment.

However, it's overwhelming enough to move to a new country where you don't speak the language, know your way around, or have a support network. Learning a new school system and how to live on your own for the first time seemed too much. What to do?

We decided I will go over for a couple of months and help her get settled. Yes, we’re in the middle of repairing our yards from the mudslide. Yup, I just did a big rebrand of my business. Uh...how could I live in Sweden without Niklas? And on and on and on…
 
There are no rules. You can do what you want. Nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all just making it up as we go along.
 
Emboldened as I was from my new life mantra, I did have one over-riding worry—her twin brother. The mother-child contract is the strongest one we have…except, the twin contract. (Let me know in the comments below or on Instagram if you’d like to learn more about soul contracts).

I reached out to “The Brothers’” parents. They assured me that not only would the kids’ relationship continue to grow, the whole family’s would as well.
 
This is the beauty of energy work. You get to integrate it into your life. Yes, I could ground and release all my fears. And…I could also do something physical to help me cultivate confidence in our decision. Energy work is not done in isolation. It infuses the actions we take to further our goals.
 
Both And.
 
Perhaps this post will give you your own smelling-salts moment. Where are you blindly following tradition, your culture, societal rules? Can you create a crack in your unconscious beliefs wide enough to let in something new and creative?
 
In the meantime, know that I will continue my readings remotely as I’ve always done. My clients span the globe from Seattle to Singapore to South Africa--most of whom I’ve never met physically.
 
P.S. As if our lives are not chaotic enough, we decided at the last moment to rent out our Santa Barbara house which entailed massive cleaning, painting, and repairing on top of packing and preparing for my daughter and my departure last Friday. Oh, and where will Niklas and the boys live temporarily? No mom, no comfort of home, no stability…they’ll be fine! 
 
There are no rules. You can do what you want. Nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all just making it up as we go along!
 
Thank you, Les. Your words changed my life!