⭐ I Learned to Pay Attention

Many years ago, as a young man, an experience taught me something very valuable. I rarely talk about it, but for some reason it seems more meaningful now.

I was on a date with someone I cared a great deal about. I didn’t have a lot of money, so I was looking for an interesting spot to park and enjoy the night. There wasn’t much around, but I found one dark spot—an open lot overlooking a small canyon.

In reality, the place looked terrible. But for some reason, I kept returning to that remote, desolate spot. My date said I should find another place, but I insisted. She questioned me, but something in me felt drawn there, though I couldn’t have explained why.

I finally pulled up close to a lone parked van with no windows, thinking it might add to the adventure. I parked, expecting what I thought was going to be a quiet romantic evening.

Not long afterward, I heard a door open and someone running. The shift in the evening was so sudden that it took me a moment to understand what was happening.

Then came a frantic knock on my window.

There stood a woman begging for help.

I quickly assessed the situation and, to the shock of my date, jumped out of the car. I suppose I assumed that if I was coming to the aid of a lady in distress, I needed to appear bigger than life.

The young woman was asking for help and for something to cover herself. Her clothes were gone. I had a blanket in the car, so I pulled the seat forward and helped her into the back seat.

As the van pulled away, she told us she had been assaulted. When she heard my car arrive and park next to the van, she had broken free from her assailants and ran to my car.

I drove her to her family home, where she dressed and quickly returned to thank me again. She even offered me money, I suppose for the gas I had used. I, of course, refused. I simply told her I was glad she was all right.

She was incredibly thankful.

I drove away. My date was not angry, but she was still somewhat shaken about everything that had just happened. I never saw the young woman again. And I rarely talked to anyone about that ruined date. Life moved forward, and the memory settled into the background of my mind.

Many months later, perhaps a year or so, I was attending a séance when a spirit guide came through. I wasn’t thinking about that night at all when the message arrived.

He began describing that night—an experience I had not discussed with the people present. He described enough of what had happened that I knew what event he was referring to.

The communicator told me that I had been guided to that location with some degree of urgency. He thanked me for my willingness to act.

Then he said something I had no way of verifying.

He told me that had I not arrived when I did, the woman would have been killed and her body left in the canyon.

The audience fell silent.

And so did I.

The guide went on to say that several of my spirit guides had been directing me that night.

Fortunately, I listened.

Again, this is an anecdotal event. I cannot prove what I was later told about what might have happened to that young woman. I can only tell you what happened that night and what was said to me later.

Why share the story with you?

Perhaps simply to encourage you to listen to that inner voice. It is difficult to describe in words. Those of you who have experienced it probably know what I mean. It is a feeling. A sense.

I don’t know that I can claim to possess anything unusual. But I can say that I have spent a lifetime listening to that inner voice. It has kept me from some bad situations when I listened.

And when I didn’t... there was often regret.

I still don't entirely know what to make of that youthful experience. But I never forgot it.

So, I leave it here as a note from the margins:

Listen.
Pay attention.