Lessons From Strangers

As we go through our daily lives most of us have interaction with dozens, if not hundreds of people every time we leave our homes. People we drive down the road with, work with, go to school with, pass on the sidewalk, see at the store and people we know and purposefully interact with.

I believe that we have all chosen to be here on earth at this particular time, each for our own particular reasons. I also think that this is part of a grand, infinite experience for the purpose of the growth and expansion of our souls and of the Universe. And, I (and many others) believe that we are all connected and part of the Universal whole. I won’t go into the whole thought process about many life experiences, time being an illusion and all things happening at once. Too much information for this short post. Plus, it makes my brain hurt to think about it.

What I do want to explore is the meaning behind every interaction we have with each person with whom we come in contact. If you buy into the fact that we are all here on purpose and that there are no coincidences in the perfection of the unfolding of eternity, then there must be a reason for every encounter we have, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

Although I spend much of my day oblivious to any deeper meaning behind the personal encounters I have, there are many times that I pay closer attention to the conversations I hear, or the demeanor of those within my range of observation. In these cases, I am always curious about how and why I have attracted those particular people and that particular conversation into my experience. What is it, I wonder, that led me to sit next to a family – a grown daughter and her parents – and, as I ate my breakfast, listened to them argue about the best way to keep the cat box clean and odor free. I’m talking about a 30 minute conversation here. I wanted to lean over and say, just clean the damn thing every day and add a little fresh litter once a week and you’ll be good.

Or, how about sitting next to a group of older teenagers and hear them talking about all the ways they hide the fact that they smoke pot from their parents. Again, I wanted to turn to them and say, dudes, your parents know you smoke pot.

I don’t have any great insights as to why I heard these particular conversations or what lessons, if any, I was supposed to learn from them. What I can say is that they were indications to me that I should be paying attention to what shows up in my life. If I am hearing or seeing a lot of negative stuff I know I need to observe my own vibration and how I am feeling in that moment. Witnessing these odd and somewhat memorable conversations is a great reminder that we attract not only what we think about, but what matches our feelings. Similarly, I can always tell when my vibration is particularly high by the number of people who randomly smile and say hello to me. I know that it is in response to not only my own smile, but to the energy I am putting out into the world.

Next time you are out and about pay attention to what you see and hear. Reflect on what in you that is mirroring and take it to heart. Every experience is a lesson if we are willing to learn from it.

The Ripple Effect

Do you ever look back over a period of your life and retrace your steps to a pivotal moment that altered your path? Of course it is bound to happen when you enter a new relationship, or experience a big life event, but sometimes a seemingly remote circumstance can have an unexpected impact on our life’s journey.

It has happened to me now and then, and recently I was reflecting on some of the new interests and activities I have been pursuing. I was pondering the series of events that led me to this point when as little as six months ago I wouldn’t have known a thing about some of the topics I’ve been studying.

It all started when Dr. Wayne Dyer made his transition a few months ago. Prior to that time I was familiar with some of his work and had read a few of his books. To honor Wayne, Hay House made his Kindle books available at very low prices for awhile so I took advantage of the opportunity to pick up a few. I had seen an interview where Wayne had talked about his memoir, “I Can See Clearly Now”, and had especially wanted to read that. In reading that book I was struck by how scholarly Wayne was. In his lifetime he read and studied many, many philosophers, poets, sages and more. He was impressively knowledgeable about a wide variety of religions, philosophies and spiritual teachings.

In the course of reading his memoir I noted several books that I wanted to read based on his comments about them. One of these was “Autobiography of a Yogi”, which I had heard of from time to time over the years. I read the book and found it fascinating. The Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, was also a scholar and expert in the world’s religions and spiritual teachers. I learned so much reading that book that I decided I wanted to better understand the Yoga Sutras. I have a very light physical (asana) yoga practice, and understood at some level that asana is only a small part of yoga, but didn’t really have any appreciation for the depth of the teachings in the Sutras. I will devote my next blog to some thoughts on the Sutras and what I have gotten out of my studies so far, but I want to finish my thought on how this path unfolded, all as a result to Wayne Dyer’s passing.

When I decided I wanted to delve into the Sutras I asked my yoga instructor for recommendations on a couple of good translations. She obliged me by giving me several suggestions, including what she liked and what I would potentially get out of each of them. I chose two of them and started looking over one of them. Within a day or two I received a notice from my yoga studio that they were offering a class in yoga philosophy and an in depth look at, you guessed it, the Yoga Sutras. The textbook for the class was one of the books I had just purchased. Coincidence? I think not. I took the class about a week ago and have been studying the Sutras on my own since then.

The saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. As I look back over the past few months it seems clear that this was meant to be a next step for me. This all started because I decided to pick up a copy of Wayne Dyer’s autobiography. You just never know how the Universe will conspire to lead you down a path.

As an aside, I highly recommend picking up one or more of Wayne’s books, especially his more recent, spiritually-inclined books. I hope one of his books will lead you on an adventure too!

Love is always the truth.

Finding the Good in the “Bad”

So, I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. Nothing serious, just can’t get out of my own head. For the most part I start each day remembering what I am thankful for and truly appreciating my life and all that is good about it right now. I’ve talked about gratitude before in another post so I won’t belabor the benefits of feeling grateful. Instead I thought I would just put into words all of the great things that have come out of recent experiences in my life that some might view (as I did for awhile) as bad. Here goes: I have made several good friends that I would never have known had it not been for my last relationship. I have made several new friends since moving to a new place. I have a nice place to live. I enjoy the scenery in my new neighborhood when I walk. I get to walk around a beautiful lake with ducks and geese and turtles and bunnies and other random wildlife. I have a new great breakfast place. I still have the opportunity to visit and appreciate my old neighborhood from time to time. A lot of good things in my life have remained the same, like my awesome kids. I have great health and am more fit than I have been in a long time. I’ve had to get out of my comfort zone and try new things. I’m learning to dance. I’m spending more time writing and have rediscovered my enjoyment of writing poetry. I get to enjoy the adventures of dating ;). I am feeling useful by helping a business person get his books in order. I feel useful by keeping my roommate’s house clean and other small things to make her life easier. I am more dedicated and consistent with my meditation practice. I’m thinner. I’ve learned to release fear and (most days) live in surrender. I am clearer on what I want in life. I love myself. Whew! I feel better already.