By David Magallanes /Guest contributor
Yesterday one of my sisters, who is very attuned to the spiritual dimension, wrote to me that she had gone to bed for the night when suddenly something “nudged” her to get up and go into the kitchen. Sure enough, she had left the coffee maker on.
She related to me how last year she was being “nudged” to go to the library for reasons that totally escaped her. But she has learned to ignore the “nudges” at her own risk. When she finally got around to walking to the library (she has no car), she was once again “nudged” toward a book she’d never heard of. She read it, and it changed her life —in that sense that life makes infinitely more sense to her now. She is able to see the gift in every occurrence, whether that be a pleasant experience, such as time with family, or what is normally considered a negative experience, such as her recent surgery.
My American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines the verb “nudge” as “to push against gently,” and the noun as “a gentle push.” The word is “probably of Scandinavian origin,” according to the dictionary. My Larousse English-Spanish Dictionary gives us the corresponding Spanish equivalents as “dar un codazo” and “codazo.” Spanish might be more elegant than English for expressing romantic feelings and poetic imagery, but English beats it hands-down, as in this example, where the closest Spanish can get to “a gentle push” is “an elbow in the ribs.” Hardly the kind of “nudge” I’d welcome as a guiding hand!
On the other hand, my sister explained to me that some of her “nudges” were closer to “being pushed by an elephant.” In which case, the Spanish version is not far off.
I’ve had my share of memorable nudges. Such as the time I went to the local library with my dad, a bibliophile if I ever knew one, when I was about 11. For reasons that were never meant to be clear to me, I was “nudged” toward a book with funny symbols that fascinated me. And so was launched a lifetime technical career in electronics and mathematics.
Then there are those nudges away from something. Like when I was receiving a very clear message to not do something. To my eventual great dismay, I initially ignored the nudge that was quickly becoming a two-by-four beating me on my head. I did what I was being warned against anyway, and it was likely the greatest mistake I’d ever made in my life.
But I survived, and now I’m older and hopefully wiser. I’ve learned to heed that “still, small voice within,” and certainly that “push by the elephant.”
American author and philosopher Ernest Holmes very eloquently explained his vision of the nature of nudges*:
“Amidst the din and uproar of our lives, the accumulated fear, doubt, and confusion of the ages, there has always been and always will be a still, small, voice within that seeks to proclaim itself through us. Life has given us all we could ever desire. It is up to us to decide and discover for ourselves what the nature of life is, and accept it.”
We may not know from whence these nudges originate, but no matter. Experience will tell us to take great heed, and to act on those “hunches,” those “gut feelings,” those mysterious urges to do things that we would not ordinarily do.
*http://www.pacificcoastchurchpg.org/whatwebelieve_science.html, retrieved 9/28/11.
— David Magallanes is the creator of his own enterprise, Real World Projects, a speaking, writing and Internet marketing business dedicated to the advancement of the American Dream. An emerging branch of Real World Projects is Edifiquemos, a Spanish language enterprise dedicated to teaching the Spanish-speaking how to create a profitable international (U.S./Mexico) enterprise with low investment and high earning potential. David may be available for speaking opportunities. To contact him and for more information, you are invited to visit and explore his web sites at www.realworldprojects.info and at www.edifiquemos.com His e-mail is dmagallanes@RealWorldProjects.info.