I have met some new people recently and have welcomed their observations on life and intrigued at how they have arrived at their current standing. Some are extraordinarily successful—truly appear to be **living** their dream, others are at the opposite end of the spectrum…reacting to events around them and clearly show an unwillingness or inability to change their state of existence. I fall somewhere in between but lean heavily to achieving the short-term goals. I find myself wondering if the friendships will develop, if there is enough in common, if we resonate when it comes to primary vales and if those secondary values are aligned. It’s been interesting to date and leaves one with a sense that it is possible to meet one’s “type of person” but that perhaps the timing of meeting and time constraints won’t allow for growth. But these interactions have given me some insight to what is missing currently—a free exchange of ideas on many subjects: art, philosophy, psychology, economics and the world of dreams. Engaging conversations with conscious beings, rather than reading voraciously various news sources, websites, and books has granted me a new sort of energy—or allowed me to revisit something that was more familiar years ago in the form of open exchange. I remember going out with friends, some close, some not and chatting away evenings over coffee. Debating, arguing, outright mind battles and enormous amounts of laughter. Drunk from alcohol or donuts or thinking and the ongoing banter forth and back only to end an evening in early morning with that great rush of excitement for life but physically an intense need for sleep. I remember being the “O, so serious one” and evolving into someone who was secure at laughing herself and the errors she made only to find growth and amusement and appreciation for things that I held little value of. I miss those days and would like them back. Not only to meet “my type of person” but to continuously see through others eyes and find that internal place that allows me for a short period of time to resonate with their experience and understand their individual state of grace.
I had a dream the other night where I was looking in a mirror and front and center was moi. In the dream I am over focussed on which eyeglass frames looked better—black or red…switching between the two…and then slowly a web of people somewhat foggy enter the mirror…the influences, the voices, the people who have made a difference and then some who I still do not understand the presence of. But it was interesting…the mirror reflecting myself evolving into a reflection of not just myself but those I in some capacity must carry with me. What is it to be surrounded by people who smiling at you? It’s an intensely positive emotion—exuberance—the ultimate happy vibe. I rarely remember my dreams…but this one I do and for whatever undiscovered (as yet) purpose, I will carry it with me.
L’chaim!
"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." --Henri Nouwen