Every Monday I will post a new thought, idea, or focus for the week. When you need a breather from life, when you need a little inspiration, or when you're about to jump over the conference table and strangle your co-worker, remember the mantra.
Monday Mantra: Trust that the dots of your life will connect as they are supposed to
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in the world. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
- Steve Jobs
A couple of weeks ago I went to the renaissance festival with my friend, Colette. While we were there we strolled about the grounds soaking in the sun, watching the shows, and eating ginormous turkey legs. I don't know about you, but time with my friend plus sunshine plus turkey legs equals a very awesome day in my book.
As we were leaving, we passed the booth of a palm reader named Madame Carolyn. A cute, grandmotherly palm reader, with an honest face and a little bonnet on her head. Madame Carolyn also happened to have a gentleman stationed out front of her little booth to sign people in for readings. The whole place had this feel to it, very welcoming, very friendly, very safe.
Colette and I sat and talked to the gentleman manning the sign in sheet. He was nice, polite, funny. He told us stories about his life, his travels, and about how he did not believe in palm reading. At least he didn't until he worked with Madame Carolyn. Apparently, within the six weeks he'd been working with her, several people had returned from years prior to tell her how things she had predicted had come true. I had been thinking about getting my palm read for fun, so I decided to go for it.
Now, there are a few things you need to know:
1. I've had my palm read before and it's always been a disaster of a joke. So fake, so bad, so not worth the money. But I enjoy the fun in it. I enjoy the idea. Normally, the palm readers say 12 million things that could apply to anyone sitting in front of them. They also usually get info out of you without you realizing it. Neither of those things happened.
2. The night before the festival I had a dream. In it, I was in some other country at a weird indoor-outdoor mall of some sort. There were all of these little vendors with little booths and one vendor in particular, a gentleman who very much resembled Julian from One Tree Hill, had me come over to his booth so we could talk. He was dressed in green and brown and he was scruffy, tattered. He tried selling me different jams as well as some paintings he had done. We talked and talked, and in our conversations he tried to guess where I would be traveling for the year ahead. He also talked to me about love. Then I woke up.
Madame Carolyn's booth was set up just like the one in my dream.
The guy was dressed in the same, tattered clothes.
3. As previously mentioned, according to my horoscope my life was suppose to change for the better on March 12th. The day we went to the festival was March 11th. That being said, I was confused that entire week and honestly thought that it was the 12th that day.
At no time before I sat down with her did I have to fill out a little sheet of paper with any details of my life whatsoever. Also, while we were talking to the guy who signed us in, I didn't talk about my life at all. Not at all, at all.
When it was my turn, Colette came and sat with me while Madame Carolyn read my palm. She wanted to see what it was all about, but she also wanted to see if what Madame Carolyn said could be applied to anyone who sat with her. Like a test, so to speak. I wasn't sure what to expect from this cute little lady, but I certainly wasn't expecting things to start off with the bang that they did.
Madame Carolyn: If you're not a doctor in the medical field, you've studied holistic nutrition and you practice health and wellness.
Me: *Jaw dropped open*
Colette: *Jaw also dropped open*
Things got more awesomely real from there. Not only did she tell me things like how I just got a divorce or how my mom was having a hard time dealing with something difficult that just recently happened, but she also told me about my travels for the year and about how my love life was going to pan out. Much, much like my dream from the night before. Her details were exact, specific, with time frames and numbers and moments that either had already happened or would.
Basically, Madame Carolyn was blowing my mind. And Colette's. And our jaws just kept dropping open.
It's funny how this one little, random thing has made such an impact. How this stranger could actually have gotten so many things right, now and hopefully for my future. Which I guess is all it's really about...giving people hope. Giving them something to believe in, something to trust.
Things have happened since then. Small, minuscule things, but things nonetheless. And since I can't connect the dots of the instances that have yet to occur, I will connect the ones that already have. I will wait for the rest to take shape, to form, to see what my life will look like. I will look backwards one day, far in the future, and remember these moments. I will see how everything lead to where I am at and I will understand.
So friends, when you look at your life from this very moment, look backwards for the dots. Look for the moments, the details, and the steps that lead you here. Steve Jobs was right- you can't connect them looking forward (unless you're Madame Carolyn, I suppose), but you can trust in them. Trust that they will align exactly as they should. Trust in your life.
And maybe go see Madame Carolyn. If she doesn't blow your mind, at least you can feel good about spending some time with someone who looks like your grandma.
If you could know your future, exactly as it will turn out, would you? Or would you wait for the dots to connect themselves?
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2 comments:
As melia knows I was very skeptical, but the things Madame Carolyn said were amazing. Had she said those same things to me she would have been wrong every time. I wished we had more time that day so that I could have received the same hope that Melia did. At the same time I'm kinda glad I didn't...I worry that it would have made me focus too much on what the future could hold and maybe lead me down a wrong path. It would be awesome to know what the future holds and I still have days that I want to go back and see her and then I have days that I know I just need to have faith in myself and in God for the path he as chosen for me.
You are going to have an amazing life and you don't need a plan reader to tell you that. Heck, I really didn't either! I love you and you're right...you've got a path already laid out and ready to roll.
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