What the retrograde!? - Yasmin Boland
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So a funny thing happened on the way to my summer holidays this year. There were some astrological and manifesting lessons inherent in the adventure so I decided to share…

Months and months ago, we booked a holiday apartment for two weeks on the Mediterranean island of Malta. I could hardly wait. There is nothing I like better than being somewhere sunny with my family. Plus I have lots of extended family in Malta, too.

I could hard wait. Our Airbnb accommodation looked amazing. The main drawcard was the balcony where – the picture showed – you could seat 6 people at a table for lunch or dinner, overlooking the water. Amazing! I spent quite a bit of time thinking about this place, seeing myself there and looking forward to having my Maltese friends and family over to enjoy it with us!

What the retrograde?!?!

So imagine my shock and disappointment when we arrived at the rental and found it out was literally almost nothing like the pictures! Not only was the balcony of my dreams in fact not in the flat but on the rooftop, but the place was also dark, up three or four enormous unmentioned flights of stairs and rather than overlooking the sea, it actually overlooked (literally) a building site. (The view itself was bad enough – the noise would have been deafening!)

Before I go further, yes, this is a First World Problem. My luxurious apartment turns out to be dud. But suffice to say I was disappointed as my holiday dreams crumbled.

We told the fellow who had let us in that since this was nothing like the photos, we would like to cancel. Hubby and I were totally agreed on this. “Lucky” for us, the owner agreed on the spot we could have a full refund.

So about 30 minutes later we found ourselves in a nearby cafe, all our luggage in the rental car parked outside, wondering what the HECK we had done – cancelling our two weeks of accommodation in Malta at the PEAK of the holiday season. Everything else was solidly booked. OMG.

Looking at the astrology of all this, it made sense. As you will know if you have signed up for the free email series I’ve been running The Season Of Second Chances, we are in a super-retrograde period. We have had up to 6 planets retrograde at one time.

So…summing it up

1. On one hand, I knew that this was all quite predictable. After all, with all these planets reversing, it was completely likely that there would be bookings and unbookings.

2. On the other hand, I also knew that it literally is the Season of Second Chances, right, so we would get a second chance at this.

Moreover, as we sat in the coffee shop wondering what on earth to do, seeing that pretty much every Airbnb place was full, and hotels too, my husband and son were clear on something. They kept telling me:

“Everything is going to be alright”.

I was like, really? Are you sure? And they affirmed that yes, they really felt it would be ok. I am positive person most of the time but when something like this happens, I can easily get discouraged. It’s like I really do expect everything to be ok and when it’s not, I can be at a loss, at least at first.

But they kept telling me very adamantly “Everything is going to be alright”. I felt it too. It would be. I chanted it to myself as I scrolled the pages of booked-solid flats and hotel rooms. I even did an Instagram post about it, as a way of affirming and believing it and feeling it in my body (so important when manifesting!)

And guess what?

Long story short, by the end of the afternoon, we had SIX lovely places to choose from
including 1. A flat owned by my cousin’s friend, in our dream location, that had just renovated for rental but hadn’t yet been put on the market so was available. 2. Another Airbnb flat nearby that was expensive but gorgeous and 3. My other cousin offered for us to come and stay with him in his amazing, architect-designed, enormous home in the middle of the best part of Malta, complete with a swimming pool. The deal was we could stay with him and his beautiful wife and child for the first week and then have the place all to ourselves for the second week while they went away to Italy for their own summer holiday. Amazing!!!!!

We took the third option.

We had a WONDERFUL week with my cousin, his wife and their child for the first week. It was super-special to spend quality time with them, rather than just meeting up for lunches or dinners. My cousin’s son is a month away from turning 2 so he’s so fun to be around and his beautiful wife is 6 months pregnant with their second child, so also super special to spend time with her at this sacred and precious time of their lives. We all loved our time with them. And then they sailed off (literally) and we had their amazing place to ourself – and honestly their home is like a little Mediterranean palace. #Amazing. #Grateful #Wow

So there you have it…

My lessons…

1. Stay flexible and remember that when you have a lot of retrograde energy around, changes of plans are to be expected

2. Quite often things can work out for the best, even if it feels like a pain at the time

3. The mantra “Everything is going to be alright” is worth its weight in gold

4. It really pays to have positive people around you – you can support them and they can support you when your belief that everything is going to be alright falters

5. I have amazing cousins 🙂 #familyfirst

Love Yasmin x

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