The Power of Three

    Good things always seem to come in three’s.                                                                                                     –

So do bad things.  I believe it’s more than superstition or an old wives tale…but for now, let’s focus on the positive three’s. Think: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

There are other famous three’s – such as Christianity with the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).

In Japanese culture, the number three is deeply symbolic and often used to create balance, harmony, and completeness. This preference stems from spiritual, aesthetic, and philosophical traditions.  Shinto and Buddhist influence: In Buddhism, the “three jewels” – Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha form the foundation of spiritual practice. In Shinto, the “three sacred treasures” (mirror, sword and jewel) represent virtue. Traditional Japanese gardens, ikebana (flower arranging), and architecture often feature triadic compositions.

In Folklore there are three wishes, three trials, three little pigs.  A story has a beginning, middle, and end. In photography and art, dividing a canvas into thirds creates balance and focus. I like that perception for life too. Two dogs and me make three (although I’m allowing for a number four to appear).

Two’s company, but three has more complexity and an ability to create dynamic interactions. Speaking of dynamic interactions…

My personal three words right now are: Courage, Completion and Clarity. It represents the courage to try something new, completion to finish something old and the clarity to let go of what doesn’t serve me. There is a quiet power in doing something you once feared, finishing what you abandoned, and giving yourself what you truly need.  This post is about those three choices that can shift your entire course – one brave, one overdue, and one that is clearer than ever.

I read the monthly forecast for a website called “the power path” that a friend of mine turned me on to. The theme for November is “Discovery.”

This is discovery on many levels. Discovery of parts of yourself you never knew or have forgotten about, newfound stamina for change, flexibility you did not think you had, uncomfortable truths about yourself or others, and many things that have been hidden under the surface both personally and in your greater environment and communities. This is all part of the completion cycle of this year as well as an opening into a new landscape that requires a final clearing of past attachments.

Oh, this really resonated with me.  Especially since I drove from Vancouver to Palm Springs by myself (with my two dogs of course but they don’t drive). Many people might think this is no big deal, but for me it was. I didn’t do it to prove to anyone that I could.  I really tried to find someone to drive accompany me as it was my worst fear to be going it alone. I’m the kind of person who just likes to drive to the grocery store (but I’ll take my scooter instead if the weather is nice).  I don’t like traffic, bad weather, lengthy drives, driving at night or being alone on a long drive. So that’s a long list of “no’s.”

Every possibility of having someone accompany me ended up in failure.  A friend, who early on said she’d go with me because she has family in Los Angeles, ended up getting cancer (happy to report that she’s doing well).  Then a friend of a friend who contemplated going to Palm Springs decided to go to Japan.  Then two more people had something crop up unexpectedly (or that’s what they told me).  So yeah, I was a bit desperate.  And that’s when it dawned on me that if all else fails (which it did) I had no choice but to go it alone.

As it got closer and closer to the time of leaving I dreaded it more and more.  I put an app on my phone for directions.  I put my phone on a thing that’s supposed to stick to my windshield so that I could clearly see the directions instead of looking down.  Said apparatus broke away from the windshield less than two blocks from leaving my place.  Fell on the floor by my feet along with the phone, turning the windshield wiper switch on.  I couldn’t take the risk of this happening on the highway so for the rest of the trip my phone sat in the passenger seat with me glancing down at it on occasion the whole way.

Luckily I could at least listen to the Humphrey Bogart sounding voice on my app which said things like: “cops up ahead – I wonder if I know these guys from the clubhouse?” “Make a left turn – like you mean it!” “Hazard up ahead – but you and me kid, we eat hazards for breakfast!” In some sense I found his voice calming – until it got repeatedly annoying.

But I made it.  I made it in record time too.  Surprised myself by remaining remarkably calm, focused & clear headed. I removed the roadblocks in my head that told me “I can’t.” When I got to Palm Springs someone who never made the drive said that it should be relatively easy because all you have to do is follow the road.  But no, it’s not that simple. You have to pay constant attention, traffic patterns change and the weather was all over the map.

Wasn’t expecting torrential rain from Seattle to Oregon. Wasn’t expecting fog so heavy so as not to be able to see clearly for a few hours leaving Oregon. Certainly wasn’t expecting to be stopped at the border, taken inside to be finger printed while they went through my car.  It was only an hour delay though and the only thing they threw away was Layla’s favourite bag of unopened dog treats which were made in Thailand – while missing my open jar of Panang curry paste, also from Thailand.

On arrival, everything went much smoother than expected.  I arranged ahead to hire someone to clean up my outdoor space so I didn’t have to rake dry leaves for days. Everything is operating perfectly. I have a clean, cute, comfortable space. Note to self: you worried for nothing! Let this be a lesson for everything.

The completion aspect is coming together.  It’s more about finishing a project I promised myself that I would.  I can tell you more about this later.  It’s something that I had ruminated about for a long time but never got around to starting until recently.  It’s something my late husband said I should do and while I really liked the idea, I just didn’t know how or when to start.  Now it’s coming together and I just have to tweak it before putting it out there.

The Clarity is realizing that I’m on the right path. Clarity often comes after courage and completion.  When thoughts are aligned and direction is clear.  Anxiety ends up fading and calm takes its place.  This is what is happening.

“Clarity isn’t just knowing — it’s becoming. It’s the moment your inner compass points true, and you finally feel ready to walk your path.” I said “your” but I really mean “my.”  It’s my path. But you can do it too.

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

– Derek Walcott (Nobel-Prize winning poet, playwright, and painter) – “Love after Love”       

How about you? Have you faced a fear or started or completed something you’ve put on the back burner for as long as you can remember?