'I saw the signs' | Now to Love

Some may find it strange that signals from nature and snatches of song lyrics can change your life, but that’s what led one woman to quit the rat race and follow her dreams.

Bernadette Logue has turned her life around by following her personal signs from the universe, leaving her job as an employment consultant to become an author and life coach, first on Waiheke Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, and then in Hawaii.

Bernadette’s book Pinch Me describes how, despite having a high-powered job in Wellington, she still felt discontented. Her husband, Aaron, working as a trader for Genesis Energy, felt the same.

After attending a course on spirituality and “the law of attraction”, which says that positive thoughts will bring positive results and negative thoughts just the opposite, they both found the courage to change their lives.

Bernadette and Aaron can afford the things they want without the stress they used to have.

“A lot of people use the law of attraction and they focus on what they want and think positively, but there seems to be something missing. You can lock yourself in a cupboard and think and talk positively, but nothing’s going to happen. “By following the messages the universe sends, you focus on how to create the change in your life – and that means taking action. For a long time I didn’t take action and stayed inside my comfort zone,” she admits.

Aaron was first to quit his job and now earns money trading on the foreign exchange market. It took Bernadette longer to take the plunge. She decided to ask the universe to send her signals to help her make money doing something she loved, and she discovered life coaching and healing others.

Some of Bernadette’s own signals involved observing the different insects around her home. She says the influx of stick insects around the property symbolised having to remain patient and focused, and the high number of chrysalises meant she was preparing for a transformation. Song lyrics which popped into her head also meant something to her.

“I would quite often wake with songs in my head, and during the times when I felt afraid or stuck I would hear songs with lyrics like ‘there’s nothing to fear’ or ‘don’t be afraid’, or ‘carry on’. “Every day the universe sends you signals, whether you are aware of them or not. Unusual happenings, coincidences, situations, people and things turn up in your life when you need them most.

Sometimes you don’t know if it’s a signal, and you just have to investigate it to find out if it does mean something to you. It’s the investigation and the process of unravelling it that’s part of the fun. “Someone could be wanting to meet a partner or have better health, so their signals will be unique to them,” she explains.

Another signal for Bernadette was stumbling upon a book, The 4-hour Work Week, which suggests taking mini retirements throughout your life to allow more travelling and downtime when you are younger rather than saving it up for retirement.

Bernadette and Aaron decided to adopt that idea and travelled to Thailand for a three-month break. That’s when Aaron quit his job and Bernadette was able to work at her job part time and remotely. She made the decision to quit on her return. “I had to step out of my comfort zone and take some action and it was a signal that guided me to do that.”

Having turned her life around, Bernadette is now in harmony with the cosmos.

They then bought a house on Waiheke, where Bernadette worked as a life coach and healer, but have since followed their signals to Maui in Hawaii where they have been living while she has been writing her sequel to Pinch Me. Where they go next will all depend on what their hearts and signals say.

Bernadette is quick to point out not everyone has to quit their jobs to find happiness. “Lots of people love their jobs. The change those people want may be completely different,” she says. Returning to the corporate world would mean they could earn more money, but they easily survive on what they earn now.

“We’ve sold a property, and I make good money as a coach and a healer and selling my book here and internationally. “We could have stayed on at those jobs and become mortgage-free and carried on living that life, but it wasn’t bringing me joy. Now I trust the signals in my life and my intuition to guide me.”