Chapter 8: The Night I Chased My Soul Around Town (the story behind "Gas Station Awakening...")

My spiritual awakening taught me something that changed the way I understand my own mind. For a big part of my life I thought I was someone who simply overthought everything. But eventually I realized something that surprised me… I wasn’t overthinking at all. What was actually happening was that my human consciousness and my soul consciousness were having conversations. Sometimes they agree.
Sometimes they negotiate.
And sometimes my human self thinks my soul has completely lost her spiritual mind… and this particular night was one of those nights.

I had just finished work and was driving home. It had been a long day, and I was about ten minutes from my house. The music was playing and I was already thinking about changing into my cozy sweatpants. And then suddenly, I heard it. Clear. Direct.

My spirit said: “I’m leaving. Come find me at Thornton’s on Barrington Road.” I actually looked around the car. “Wait… what?”, I thought. Barrington Road was thirty-five minutes in the opposite direction. My human brain immediately kicked in. Nope!
Absolutely not!
We are going home! But something strange was happening inside my body. I felt empty. Hollow. Like something important had stepped out of the room. And I knew exactly what it was. My soul had stepped out of my human awareness. So, I turned the car around.

 The entire drive there I kept saying out loud, “I cannot freaking believe I’m doing this.” I even called my friend Pam. “You’re not going to believe this,” I told her.
“My spirit just told me to meet her at the Thornton’s gas station in Barrington!. “She started laughing. I started laughing…but I kept driving. When I finally pulled into Thornton’s gas station, something amazing happened. The moment I parked, I felt it. That feeling of being back inside myself again. Peace. Breath. Presence. It was like my soul had climbed back into the driver’s seat of my body. I sat there for a minute and said, “Well… since I’m here, I might as well get gas.” Standing there pumping gas, it hit me.

Lesson One

When you follow your soul, you end up exactly where you needed to be anyway. Because guess what? I actually needed gas. (maybe because of the extra 35-minute drive, maybe not, but apparently my soul knew that before my human brain did. So, I got back in the car and started heading home again.

Five minutes later…

She did it again. “Come pick me up at El Rodeo Tacos.”, my spirit said. I actually started laughing out loud. “You have got to be kidding me.”, I thought. And just like before, that weird hollow feeling came back. I called my Pam again. “You are not going to believe this,” I said.
“My spirit just left again. Now she’s at El Rodeo.” Pam was laughing so hard she could barely talk. But I drove there anyway.

Because by now I understood the pattern.

Sure enough, the moment I pulled into the parking lot…There it was again. That feeling of being back inside myself. Whole. Present. Peaceful. And suddenly I realized something. “Well… I guess I’ll get dinner while I’m here.” So, I went inside and ordered tacos. Standing there waiting for my food, the second lesson landed.

Lesson Two

When you follow your soul, it feeds you. Not just spiritually. Literally.

My soul had just guided me to dinner. So, now I’m sitting in my car with tacos, still shaking my head at the absurdity of the situation. “Okay,” I said out loud. “Are we done now?”

Apparently not. Because my soul spoke again. “Come pick me up at Walgreens.” At this point I was fully laughing. “Oh my gosh… I cannot believe this.” But sure enough, the hollow feeling returned again. So, I drove to Walgreens. And when I pulled into the parking lot… Boom. Back inside myself again. And then I remembered something. My daughter had medicine waiting to be picked up. I went inside and grabbed it. Standing in that pharmacy line, the third lesson arrived.

Lesson Three

When you follow your soul, it doesn’t just help you, it helps the people you love.

Gas. Dinner. Medicine for my daughter. Every stop had a purpose. My human mind thought the whole thing was ridiculous. But my soul knew exactly what it was doing. That night I kept laughing and saying, “I cannot believe I just chased my spirit around town.” But something sacred happened too. Because that night I realized something I had never fully understood before.

My soul is my best friend.

She is my guide.

My cheerleader.

My divine GPS.

And when I listen to her…

Life works.

People say things all the time like: “I don’t feel like myself today.”
“I feel disconnected.”
“I feel like I’m in a fog.” What my spirit taught me that night is that our soul is always moving, always guiding, always inviting us to come back into alignment with ourselves. And when we follow that quiet inner voice… We find ourselves again. Sometimes at a gas station. Sometimes at a taco place. Sometimes at Walgreens. But always exactly where we needed to be. And that’s when I realized something else. I will never truly be alone. Because wherever I go… My soul is always just one stop ahead of me, waving me forward.