I support hard work and enjoy it; many people could benefit from putting in a little more effort, but that’s not how most of us live. We live in frenzy, too many tasks, too few hours in a day, nothing done with any care. Never enough time, not even for the things that matter. Rushing, rushing... I just finished reading a Dean Koontz novel titled The Taking. One of the lines that struck me was about forgetting the past and forsaking the future to live in the now, in the ‘still point of the turning world’. We could all benefit from such wisdom. It also chronicled how Satan, mistaken as alien invaders (like from Mars), would come to Earth to collect people who had become too accepting of murder, which was basically everyone except children under a certain age and a handful of adults who would die to defend them. The lead-up events were ironically congruent with everything that’s happening right now.
Anyway, I’ve had three recent encounters, two with complete strangers wandering into the shop, that have touched my heart. One told me I was an old soul and to hold on to that quality. She’s 65 and our perspectives are remarkably similar. I gave her the above mentioned book after a bit of conversation and it brought tears to her eyes. She said it meant more than I could know and asked me to at least sign my name inside the cover. I gave her a hug and she hugged me back like we were family. The second, in the same day, after hearing that my given name is Summer Velvet, told me I was a hippie born 20 years too late. It made me smile. I’m all for peace, love, and happiness, flowers and rainbows. I believe people are inherently good, despite the repeated evidence to the contrary, and that there shouldn’t be nations or color or religions – all the nonsense that produces hate – none of that matters anyway, to me at least. And the third was Manfred. He’s 81, remarkably spry and cognizant for his age, and a philosophical hippie at heart, an old-school gentlemen whose worked in show business his whole life. His business card, which he told me, was very old and the new one was designed by not printed yet, reads “philosophy, poetry, choreography”. He had amazing stories of working with Fred Astaire and an encounter with Liberace. He said I was very open-minded. Then he asked me if I knew the definition of ‘soul’. I said sure, it’s the essence of who you are, pure energy. He said yes, it’s all that too, but it really means Spirit Of Unconditional Love. I smiled; I like the sound of that and it’s probably true, just our minds and hearts get in the way. Then he told me the most beautiful phrase, one that distills into a single sentence everything Deepak Chopra and all the other wise men are saying, one that resonated with me:
Divine Almighty Oneness, Infinite Soul Beingness
I leave that to your interpretation, but I wrote it down. There was urgency in my head, an understanding that it was important to remember that phrase.
My main goals in life are to work for myself, step off life’s proverbial treadmill and slow down, take better care of myself, and find / maintain inner peace. Doesn’t sound like too much to ask, does it?
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| My birthday roses |
I need to add a few links to my inspiration list; this minimalist lifestyle has my attention. I’m exploring it, but I’ve found two blogs that I like very much. See the sidebar for new links.
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