It would be silly to pretend that there weren't signs in our lives, guiding us towards our next path. We all can admit there have been significant life events that had been foreshadowed in many ways yet we were perhaps oblivious to the writing on the wall before the elephant came into the room. And suddenly we have that wake up call where reality hits, perhaps it is an accident or an illness or some other shocking and traumatic event, and it shakes our vision back into focus. The goal, if there is one, is to pay closer attention to those little nagging signals that we tend to miss when we are hurtling ahead at lightspeed, flying by the seat of our pants. We want to be diligent enough to know that there are certainly things happening and that if we were just a little more careful and observant, we can nip the issue at the root before it destroys our whole world.
There are signs. All over. We are communicating to ourselves constantly within our own psyche. Our subconscious is bubbling to the surface and creating thousands of thoughts a day, most of them go unattended and return back to the murky layers of our dark underworld. We pay little attention to our bad habits and overemphasize our positive ones, yet we remain willfully neglectful of specific issues that we just don't want to change yet. Much of the time, these things carry on without much consequence, yet over time some of them build up and the pressure becomes too great and suddenly the dam bursts and the "oh shit I better change that ASAP" realization dawns. How can we have courage to act on the small things? How can we find it in ourselves to be patient enough, to observe more closely, and to be just a little enthusiastic about tidying up the dishes before we get mold in the sink?
I don't know if I have an answer BUT, I will say this. There are tricks we can perform. There is a flow to this thing called life, and if we put the tiniest amount of effort towards the thing we want the most, it grows and grows and the rest of our "stuff" starts to sort itself out. How do we do this? For one, we definitely definitely ought to take note of the signs that ARE happening. And bless them for it. How often do we see a check oil light and think "gosh dang it, AGAIN?!" OR some other equally negative or non-constructive argument against reality. Why do we resist reality? As if flipping the guy off on the road is going to reduce traffic. Our reaction to the outside world is a reflection of where we are failing in our own inner maintenance.
Do the internal maintenance in your own way, and practice allowing it to spill forth into your daily life. Pick up the trash on the sidewalk. Put away someone's shopping cart. Spend just one more minute of your attention on something before rushing to the next thing.
Yet more importantly, listen. Listen for the whispering hints from the Universe. What is the most critical signal you are receiving? Can you act upon it, or will you wait until a pipe bursts?
"You better learn to live with reality, or reality will come to live with you."