We don't always hear the voice we need to listen to. It speaks mostly in whispers, until life faces death. Then it screams. I'd rather listen to the whispers than the screaming.

I had 3 errands to run and an appointment I needed to keep on Wednesday. The day was bright and a little too warm for the sweater I was wearing. Yet, I was content. The day was already going nicely and I didn't foresee any bumps in the road. Or nails for that matter.

As I pulled into the parking space, I  heard a quiet voice say "tires".

Huh, and just as quickly my mind re-focused on completing errands and getting home in time for that important phone call. I slid the gear shift into first and cut the engine.

I grabbed my list and reached to open the door.

The voice was a little louder. "Tires," it said again. Okay fine I thought – 'tires'. Yes I know this is something I need to take care of before winter. I made a mental note to add 'getting tires before winter' to some future list and dismissed it. I opened the door of the truck and climbed out.

As I passed the tail gate of the truck, the truck moved, ever so slightly and again the voice, this time insistent – "tires," it warned. I got a slight chill and again dismissed it.

I was about 10 steps away from my truck, when my head turned towards a noise behind me. I noticed glinting from my tire. Wait, tires don't glint. That isn't right. Oh! Nails. Nails are in my tire. My tire is very slack and very slick and there's nails.

I was less than a mile from Discount Tire. I made it there safely and purchased two new tires.

This is what seems really random to me though. I had planned and tried to do all of these errands in this particular location the day before. Nothing would work. My debit card got denied. I didn't have enough cash on me to make my purchases.

I didn't have enough juice on my cell phone to clear the issue. So I came home that day, after only completing one errand. I planned to go back to that side of town the next day and complete those errands.

If I had completed those errands on the initial day I tried to do them, I might have been too busy, to engrossed in doing something else to even pay attention to the quietly screaming voice, until it was too late. I might have been on the expressway, heading to an Internet Marketers of Georgia meeting.

I might have had a blow out while driving 70 miles per hour. Lots of things might have happened. Only they didn't. I'm glad they didn't. Yet it also occurs to me that the quiet voice might have been talking to me about other things that I haven't been listening to either.

I didn't want to listen to my own quiet, fully connected and fully aware voice until it screamed at me.

What would happen if we always (or at least always tried to) listen?

This weeks random notes on the desk include:

• You can't reason with someone who's head is up their a$$, because all they see, hear & smell is shit.
• How many cooks control your pot?
• What if I had permission, in my actual life, just as in Shiva Nata, to do everything wrong? - If you haven't read or aren't reading The Fluent Self blog, by Havi Brooks, you're missing out on the hippiest, almost new ageish, yoga/Shiva Nata/Stuckness Coach I've ever not really met but feel like I know person ever. Plus, I totally borrowed her Friday Chicken ritual. Huzzah!
  
• The Pope has a publicist. So does the Dalai Lama.
• The big ideas almost never seem like big ideas, at first. So, be on the lookout for little ideas that seem kind of ho-hum, ain't no thang, let me floss first, kind of ideas. Really, The Universe © www.tut.com ®