Something I’ve been thinking about today is the idea that intuition is fast, whereas our reasoning minds are slow. As a small (insignificant?) example, this afternoon I was getting dressed for the wedding of some dance students, and I quickly thought, I should wear my dark blue dress shirt. But then I slowly thought, I should wear my light blue dress shirt because it’s newer, sharper, hipper. This is what our minds do–they reason. Anyway, I put on the newer blue shirt only to discover that it didn’t complement the tie I wanted to wear, this floral print number that used to belong to my grandfather. So after ten minutes of wasted time, I put on the older, darker blue shirt, and it matched the tie perfectly.

Caroline Myss says that we are all divinely and angelically guided more than we could ever realize, down to the outfits that we pick out and put on each day. Like, maybe you get the hunch to wear red one morning, and then later that day someone who loves red notices you and strikes up a conversation that changes your life. Or just encourages you in some way. More and more, I’m learning to trust these intuitive hunches. Tonight after the wedding I went to a birthday party and saw a former dance student, someone who used to work with my grandfather. I said, “This tie used to belong to my grandpa,” and he pulled out a pocketknife and said, “Every time I sharpen this, I think of your grandpa because he’s the one who taught me how to sharpen knives.” Y’all, my grandpa has been dead for ten years, but–in that moment–he was alive.

Who’s to say if this would have happened had I’d been wearing another shirt, another tie?

Both the wedding and the birthday party tonight really were beautiful. I wish I had the time and energy to tell you all about them. Alas, it’s one-thirty in the morning and I’m plumb tuckered out. Still, I’d be doing us both a disservice if I didn’t tell you about something that happened at the wedding, something that involved my intuition but that also involved another topic I’ve been talking about lately.

Love.

It was after the outdoor ceremony, and everyone was inside for the reception, and I kept noticing this older, white-haired woman. Y’all, she was absolutely striking. (True beauty is ageless.) She’s a sophisticated gypsy, I thought. Anyway, I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get her off my mind. The meal came and went, the couple cut the cake, and the couple (whom I taught to dance) danced, but I kept coming back to this lady. So finally while everyone else was doing the Cupid Shuffle, I just went over, pulled up a chair, and introduced myself. “I don’t know who you are,” I said, “but you have a very beautiful spirit about you.”

Well, this darling stranger took my hand and said, “I’m deaf. I have a very beautiful what?” So I looked her in the eyes and repeated myself. “You have a very beautiful spirit about you.” Then she thanked me for coming over, and we just sat there for a moment holding hands, me and this person I’d never met before. And not that it was this hugely profound moment, but it sort of was. Because not only did it remind me that my intuition will never lead me wrong (it helps me pick out ties, it helps me pick out people to dote on), but it also reminded me that our hearts are always willing and able to connect. You don’t even have to know someone in order to love them. You can just pick up their hand and say, “You’re gorgeous.” Granted, two minutes later you might walk away and never them again, but at least you were right there, right then together. At least you were being real. At least you were being honest.