Angel Cards and Obedience

About 10 years ago, I was introduced to Angel Cards by a good friend of mine at the time. She was spiritual and talked about things like yoga and meditation long before I ever knew anything about them or long before it was any sort of a trend. So when she gave me angel cards, I really didn't think that much about them. I used them and liked them, but I didn't think about the power of angel cards until my own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The morning before she went in for her first operation in January of 1999, I had her pick one. The idea behind the angel cards is that they're supposed to help you along your journey- whatever that may be. You sit quietly and think about something that's in question. And when you're good and ready, you pick an angel card. The word on the card is supposed to help guide you in the question/situation/challenge at hand. My mom's angel card that morning, strength. I've never forgotten that and how it helped put my mom's tangled nerves at ease just a little bit. And ever since then, I've turned to the angel cards and I've introduced them to many of my friends. There's power in those angel cards for sure. They help provide this nice moment for pause and reflection in a mostly chaotic and far too fast paced world.

The angel cards have been changed over the years; they've added more and now there's an accompanying book. The book is interesting only because it provides you with a completely different definition of what you would think to be a simple word. I like the alternative of the Angel Card's definition because it is certainly more refined than my own! Along with the evolution of the cards themselves, there has also been an evolution to the website and the company which produces these things of wonderment and beauty.

I now get a newsletter in my inbox at the beginning of each month and it provides me with an Angel card for the month. To be honest, I haven't really focused too much on this in the past, but the December angel has certainly struck a chord with me. If you care to read it, you can do so here.

The Angel for December is Obedience. And the accompanying description says: What part of you is in charge? Be mindful of your inner knowing. Follow your deepest impulse with discipline and decisiveness.

I made a decision about a month ago to stop seeing my therapist and to start seeing my nutritionist more. So I really have been focusing more on making healthful food choices and just overall paying more attention to what I'm putting in my mouth and when and why. Reading this reminds me a lot of some of the food things I've been discovering about myself. Like I often choose to eat things just because I can. Because no one can tell me not to. Because I want to. Because why not. All really immature reasons to eat something, and really foolish ways to base a decision on what to put into my mouth.

There's definitely this little girl inside of me who wants to be the one who gets to call the shots because she feels like she never was able to. Whatever. I know it sounds lame, but it's the truth. I eat things because I never felt like I could when I was younger. So it's like I'm making up for lost time. When I got the December Angel newsletter and I saw the line that asks "what part of you is in charge?" it certainly made me stop and think. Often times, when I am making decisions of what to eat, and why, it's not from me, it's from the little girl who wants it just because. I'm consciously trying to think about that more.

My nutritionist asked me recently how long I was going to let my mouth always make the decisions about what I get to eat. Like at what point does my body, my mind, my stomach get to start calling the shots? I negotiate with myself all the time of what I should and shouldn't eat and I believe the point of all this work I'm doing is to get to the point where my mouth and that little girl isn't running the show.

Because of the message from the Obedience angel, before I put something in my mouth I will ask myself what part of me is in charge. And if I am acting on an impulse, I'm going to think it through with discipline and decisiveness.