One morning when my teenage son was just a few weeks old I bundled him up in a carrier and took him walking in the woods near our house. We stopped to watch a burbling creek.

I remember thinking about how before I was pregnant I would often seek out hidden messages in my surroundings, looking for the magical in the mundane. Once I discovered that I was pregnant, however, I felt like I had to give up my more esoteric interests, get my head out of the clouds, and focus on all the "real world" practical things that come with being responsible for the survival, development, and well-being of a growing human.

Yet while mesmerized by the creek in that moment with my infant son, I was moved to ask, almost like a tongue-in-cheek mockery of the old me, "What is the meaning of all this, creek?"

Into my head, clear as a bell, popped the refrain, "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream."

I laughed out loud with surprise and felt a wave of joy. It was a message perfectly suited for me in the moment — a prescription for living in the form of a nursery rhyme.

I remember feeling some of the emotional weight of new motherhood — fears, pressures, constrictions, confusions — being lifted, replaced by a warm contentment plus a spark of inspiration and connection. I was in a new role with big new responsibilities, but I was still me and the world was still the same magical place.

I've heard that message again and again over the years in response to different questions and from different sources, like a deep personal truth I need to be reminded of from time to time: move forward with care and persistence, go with the flow, and lighten up! Life is a mystery!

Do you have a burning question about the meaning of life? Or just looking for some input on a decision? Why not have a little fun, find a magical source of wisdom today, and see what it tells you. Let me know how it goes!