Monday, March 11, 2013

READING THE SIGNS DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE


How long has it been since I wrote this blog entry about shutting the door on trust?  Didn't I write there, that I am determined to listen to the signals I get?

Well, it's fair to say that yesterday I got a strong reminder of that resolution.
In about two hours time, I managed to dismiss about four to five signals. The result of doing that, was an experience with great educational value in it.

We had planned to go to Saint Junien, after looking after the sheep.
In order to speed things up a bit, I decided that my breakfast would be just a cup of tea, although I would have liked a bowl of yoghurt with muesli.

We decided, having enough time to go to the market at Saint Junien, to take the dogs for a walk. Somewhere along the way, somewhere nice.
Richard asked me to pull over somewhere, asking me if I fancied walking on an old railway track. I remember having a thought:”Hmmm, is this really a nice place for a walk?”
But instead of expressing my doubts and my desire for finding a nicer place, I simply agreed.

The walk was okay, but not exactly what I had hoped for.
It didn’t help that, in about 15 minutes before reaching the car again, I felt really hungry. All I could think of was:” Where to find food, fast!”
Fortunately, I told Richard that I'd rather go to the bakery, to buy a ‘pain au chocolat’, before setting off to Saint Junien.

After eating this ‘pain au chocolat’, I felt human again.

In Saint Junien, Richard introduced me to eating oysters. I know he considers eating oysters a real treat on the market. And since I had never tasted one before, I was curious, what it would be like.
Richard ate the first one himself and prepared the second one for me.
I remember, asking within myself, just before putting it in my mouth:”Is it allright to take this?”
I even remember that something in me hesitated. But I decided to dismiss that sign at the speed of light, and just go for it, because I wanted to taste an oyster, share the joy.

It didn't do much for me, taste wise, so I tried two or three more before I decided that I wasn't really enjoying eating oysters.

The experience didn’t stop there. Within 10 minutes, I felt queasy. I wasn't ill, but my body was definitely telling me that something was not completely right.

What I wanted to do was to get in a car and go straight home. But I gathered, it would be a better idea to go and get the groceries we wanted, from the supermarket.

By the time we left the supermarket there was almost no energy left in me and happiness was just a vague memory.
Richard was driving and with my eyes closed, I wondered what went wrong.....

Suddenly I saw a small lake, and I felt a desire to go there. First, I dismissed the thought, because we had agreed to go straight home. But then I realised:”No, I really wants to go to the water.” and so I asked Richard, to park near the lake.

I felt restless and sad, and I just wanted to sit down and have peace and quiet.
But when I laid down on the grass, one of the dogs decided to sit on my face, and that was painful.
I was annoyed and irritated by her and I expressed it to her, with force.

I was not really enjoying what I was receiving.
And then I became aware that in the course of two hours,  I had at least dismissed four fairly clear signals from within. Instead of choosing for what I wanted and most likely needed, I went deliberately for something else.

Acknowledging that in doing so, I had created my own miserable afternoon, got the sting out of it.
My energy levels went up again.
The rest of the day, I paid attention to what my body was telling me and acted upon it.
As a result, I experienced a wonderful evening, with many beautiful moments. At the end of the day, I fell asleep with a big smile, and once more determined, to pay attention!

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