Every year like clockwork she asked me the same question, without fail.
"What's your birthday wish?" my mother would say.
Not what do you need. Now what could you use. What is your deepest wish?
Of course it's something tons of people get asked on their birthdays, but something that always struck a deep chord within me.
Like the rising of Spring itself it would reach up from within me breaking through once frozen soil with hopeful fingers.
Why did I keep wishes so buried?
Was I afraid to ask? To admit what I wanted?
To declare my unwavering worthiness in the face of it?
To claim my readiness? My willingness?
I wondered how many people kept their wishes just out of reach?
How many wished on falling stars and it was always the same thing that bubbled to the surface first.
What we whisper again and again to the Moon at night, the prayers we offer with a breath to a flame on a cake are telling us to pay deeper attention to what we keep asking for, to really listen to our hearts and the messages we find there.
They are far deeper than just wishes; they are a breadcrumb trail to our wildest dreams.
Sometimes when we want something so badly we're afraid to admit it to ourselves for fear of allowing the reality of feeling the truth of what we truly desire. We swallow it instead, hoping it will burn down or not be seen.
We think it will fade and die out somehow, erased from the very heart that birthed it into being.
But it burns there, silently like an ember.
And as soon as it gets within sight of a wish, poof. It rises to the surface once more.
We need to see, not just when we wish upon a candle or a falling star. We need to be present with the powerful messages that our wishes, our desires and our dreams tell us.
So make a wish, and give yourself full permission to follow the trail that is created by your deepest longing.
C. Ara Campbell is a visionary writer, soul guide, cosmic channel, teacher, artist, empath, womb keeper and the founder of The Goddess Circle. She is dedicated to the awakening feminine, living embodied truth and aiding others in connecting with their medicine. She is an old soul that has been writing and channeling guidance from the unseen world since she was young, intuitively soul coaching and empowering using spiritual and natural energies.