A few months ago, I had a new branding session. My friend Jamie has this incredible studio, and we decided to use this bold, vivid blue wall as one of the backdrops. It felt right and looked great. Honestly, I wasn’t thinking much about it at the time.
Fast forward to recently, when I started building out my new brand. What color do you think showed up in the logo? That same blue. Or at least super close to it. I was shocked.
I didn’t plan that and didn’t even connect the dots until after the fact. But looking back? That photoshoot was a sign. A green light. The universe was quietly pointing me toward where I had been headed the entire time.
The universe sends us signals all the time. Little nudges, full-circle moments, or coincidences that aren’t really coincidences at all. But most of us miss them. Not because we’re not paying attention, but because we’re not looking for them.
We’re Too Busy to Notice
Let’s be real. When you’re running a business, managing clients, handling the back end, doing all the things — you’re in execution mode. Head down, moving fast, checking off the list. There’s not a lot of room in that headspace to notice a nudge.
That’s not a flaw. It’s just what happens when we’re busy. But it does mean we end up looking back at things and thinking, oh wow, that was a sign, instead of seeing it in real time and trusting it.
The goal isn’t to become some mystical sign-chaser. It’s just to slow down enough to notice what’s already there.
How to Start Paying Attention
If you think you’re missing all the signs is sending you, you probably are. Here are a few simple ways to become more open and receptive to the signs coming your way.
1. Look for patterns, not just moments. Signs rarely show up as a lightning bolt. More often, they’re a theme that keeps repeating. The same idea keeps coming up in conversations, a certain word keeps appearing, or you keep getting pulled toward something specific. When something shows up more than twice, pay attention.
2. Do a weekly reflection (even a quick one). This doesn’t have to be a long journaling session. Even just asking yourself at the end of the week: What surprised me? What felt like a coincidence? What kept coming up? These questions can start to reveal patterns you were too busy to notice in the moment. I do a Sunday review every week, and honestly, this is one of the most valuable things I do for my business and my clarity.
3. Trust the “that’s weird” feeling. You know that moment where something happens, and you think, “Huh, that’s a weird coincidence?” Stop dismissing that. Sit with it for a second. It doesn’t have to mean something huge, but it’s worth asking: what if it does?
4. Give yourself space for it to land. Signs don’t arrive on a deadline, but they do need a little space to be received. White space in your schedule, a walk without your phone, five minutes of quiet in the morning—these aren’t luxuries. They’re how you create room for clarity to come through.
5. Look back before you look forward. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is look at your own history and ask: What was a sign that I only recognized later? Like my blue wall moment. When you start connecting those dots backward, you start to trust that things are working forward, too. Even when you can’t see it yet.
It’s Not About Being Woo-Woo
I want to be clear: this isn’t about waiting for the universe to run your life or your business. You still have to do the work and make decisions, so you can take action and show up.
But there’s something powerful that happens when you stop white-knuckling every outcome and start staying open to what’s already unfolding around you. The signs were always there. The blue wall was always blue. Sometimes the shift is just in how you’re choosing to look.
And if this has you thinking more about your relationship with the Universe, you might want to check out this post I wrote back in January. Learning to notice the signs is one thing. But once you start putting your intentions out there intentionally? The Universe listens to those, too. Sometimes a little too literally. It’s all connected—the receiving and the asking. The signs and the wishes. Once you start paying attention to one, the other gets a whole lot harder to ignore.
Have you ever looked back at something and realized it was a sign you totally missed in the moment? I’d love to hear about it. These kinds of stories are my favorite.
