The Heart Knows, Trust It
A true story of how we created something out of nothing but a heartfelt impulse (and a willingness to try even if we failed)
“No one expected me. Everything awaited me.” Patti Smith.
If you were to look back into your past, what whispery (or loud) ways has your heart nudged you in the direction of a life purpose, personal dream, or unexpected adventure? In what ways did you knowingly or unknowingly listen to these nudges, push through resistance, and follow through?
In a chapter from my third book, A Year for You, I write about this. It tells the story of how my husband and I created a beautiful home in Mexico out of nothing (but a ruin) when everything pointing to its becoming “something” looked hopeless and even insane.
What you don’t get to see when you read the chapter in the book, of course, are the before-and-after photos that go with it. Today you’ll get the whole enchilada! (Best viewed in your browser.)
May today’s photo essay inspire you to heed those tiny little whispers that keep nudging you forward in the direction of your dreams.
In February 2004 [20 years ago exactly] my husband and I did a crazy thing. We bought a ruin in central Mexico. The idea was to build a modest home there that would give us a little getaway. Even back then, when this town had not yet been discovered and declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, the cost of the land was beyond our means. We had to scrape together everything we had to make it happen.
The one-story property had been abandoned for years. There was junk and trash strewn everywhere. The walls of the kitchen were covered in soot from years of open-fire cooking. The ceilings were teeming with scorpions (we later learned).
After signing the papers, our young, unknown, and inexpensive architect-builder informed us that there was no guarantee that we'd receive the necessary permits from the town's historic commission to build a second floor, nor a guarantee of reasonable views from the rooftop if we got those permissions. What started out as doable and exciting began to look more hopeless by the minute; a lost cause, a massive mistake.
Had we gone mad? What were we thinking? What was it that got us to lose our minds so completely and utterly over a certified dump?
The answer: a little tree.
Yes, what grabbed our hearts, pulled us in, and wouldn't let go was a single, thriving pomegranate tree that had survived years of neglect. There she stood like a sentry in the middle of the chaos, waiting, it seemed, for us to cross the threshold and become the next stewards of the place.
That tree was a slice of heaven, an invitation, a promise of something nourishing and good.
And like any good host, this tree welcomed us on the day of the closing with bushels of fruit—real ones and virtual ones—that would soon become a bounty of spacious reveals that would surpass our wildest hopes and imaginings.
In the end, we were able to secure the permits that allowed us to add a second story and transform the property into a cozy sanctuary of patios, plantings, and fountains—all within a period of a few months. Our builder might have been young, hungry, and inexperienced, but he was very good and fast.
The project was a feast for the senses, an unfolding palette of living art, a magic playground of possibility and beauty. It awakened in me a passion I'd had since I was a child and had long forgotten, which was a deep love for creating beautiful home spaces that nourish and support people.
And if that were not expansive enough, the experience of pouring our love into this place was topped off with the most unexpected gift of all: rooftop access to exquisite 360-degree views that went on for miles. We were living on top of the world.
Ten months after jumping off the cliff into this crazy idea, we celebrated Christmas in our sparkling new casita. We named her Casita del Granado, or Little House of the Pomegranate Tree. She is the boss, after all—the divine space holder of this heavenly home.
As we turn the corner on our year together, I invite you to use this week to explore some of the whispery or loud ways your soul has nudged and steered you in the direction of a life purpose, personal dream, or unexpected adventure, and some of the ways you knowingly or unknowingly listened to these nudges, pushed through resistance, and followed through.
No matter how successful you were in the end, how wonderful or horrible the outcome, what I'm really interested in are the goodies that you received from the experience itself, the gifts that come from hanging out in the messy middle where nothing is certain and nothing is ever assured, as social scientist and writer Rosabeth Moss Kanter suggests here:
“Welcome to the miserable middles of change. This is the time when Kanter's Law kicks in.
…Everything looks like a failure in the middle. Everyone loves inspiring beginnings and happy endings; it is just the middles that involve hard work.”
Yes, that is what I'm interested in.1
What is your soul trying to tell you it needs more of? What’s getting in your way from acting on it?
Ahhh🏡
In case you missed it…
Excerpt from Week 51 in A Year For You: Release the Clutter, Reduce the Stress, Reclaim Your Life by Stephanie Bennett Vogt © Hierophant Publishing, 2019
I’m in the messy middle of a barn renovation. It’s taken a lot longer than we thought but I see the process. We moved all across the country from a home we had lived in for 30 years in beautiful Northern California to be with our kids and grandkids in rural Vermont! And it’s the messy middle for sure. But oh the love that is being poured out with these people.
Thankfully I started reading all your books years ago so I keep so much of your wisdom inside me. Making space. Little steps. Letting go. Opening up. Paying attention to overwhelm.
And today seeing the transformation of your lovely home encourages me! We really do need to cheer each other on in life with all its obstacles and see Beauty where it is. Love the Pom tree! Steadfast!
Thank you for the cheer Stephanie! It is a big undertaking AND I’m truly thankful we can do this. New horizons await us! And Beauty is here through new faces and new adventures. Learning to see life as one unfolding journey and not so focused on the end game these days. We have today. And yes! It’s a PLUNGE.