A friend of mine wrote this on his Twitter account recently and it got me thinking.

Coincidences, or whatever we like to call them, fascinate us and we love to pass on those weird and wonderful tales that conjure up that ancient sense of destiny or fate.

Consider this example.

A friend of mine, during my university days in the UK, wanted to get away from it all and decided to travel to Africa for his Christmas vacation. He flew to Tanzania and then caught a train to Mombasa. From there, he sailed by boat to Zanzibar and, finally, chartered a smaller boat to a tiny island just off of the ‘mainland’. As he wandered along the, almost deserted, beach, he was happy to have left the pressure of his university studies behind for a few days. It was at this point he heard someone calling his name. Surprised, he turned around, only to find himself standing in front of his university Professor, who has just happened to travel to the same remote spot to ‘get away from it all’!

Coincidence, fate or just weird?

We will never know. But I wonder whether we love these kinds of stories because they help us imagine that we are all caught up in some divine drama or ‘meta-narrative’ in which each apparently random choice, act and decision is given meaning and purpose; in which some higher being is at work, tirelessly, to ensure that, in the end, all will be well.

At the very least, we love it when stories collide in some meaningful way. (Equally, we hate it when stories collide in a meaningless way, as with the 9/11 widow who herself died in another US air crash not so long ago).

Here’s another story of ‘meaningful collision’ that today I am intrigued by.

My friend is having a baby in July, but she is not pregnant. Her precious gift of life is arriving from India and preparations are underway to welcome her into a new family. Everyone is excited, as you might imagine. But, then, consider the extraordinary sequence of events that brought my friend to this point in her journey.

On a particular day – it does not matter when – she decided that she wanted to apply for an international adoption. So she went to the Post Office and posted her first application to ‘become a mummy’. It was 22 May 2006.

On the exact same day, thousands of miles away in a town in central India, a little girl was given up for adoption. Coincidence?

And it does not stop there. Both mother and child were notified on exactly the same day in December 2007 that they had been approved by the relevant offices in Belgium and India, respectively, to be internationally adopted and adopt a child from India.

Looking at the photos of this beautiful little girl, still living in a town somewhere in India, I comment that she already seems to look like her new mummy. The comment causes tears to flow – so deep is the connection already. It would appear that their stories have already collided – even become intertwined – even though mother and daughter have yet to meet.

So here’s what I am left wondering: Do we choose our children or do they choose us? Personally, I like to think that I am in control and ‘captain’ of my own destiny; that I make choices, write my own script and bear the consequences of decisions I take.

But what if I am wrong? What if it is the other way round? At least, sometimes.

Destiny is an ancient concept that has fascinated philosophers and theologians for centuries. Listening to the story of my friend, I am at least momentarily convinced that maybe it does exist after all.

New sounds, new smells, new thoughts, old suppressed tastes surfacing when I don’t want them.

bile in my thoughts

5am, the ceaseless rain woke me. My first thought is of him / them / loss / hurt. Instantly, I feel the void – the inevitable gap. It does not stop me breathing.
I breath around the void whereas he has a void around his breathing.

holding onto myself.

not knowing that this time would come in such a way.
Repayment not in kind.

him, safe in his woven dreams.

He changed the locks to keep me out of something we built, created, owned.
Shutting me out for weeks before seducing a new future whilst I floundered alongside asking questions but being fed crocodile lies. Moving with invisible tatters and rags coping with new found truths, picking my way over lose stones.

I saw through his veneer, helped polish it, promoted it to be real when I always knew it was not. I knew his journey – understood before he did.

Erased memories jostle with flooding images, lies, laughter and knowledge of
paint job. Temple restaraunt, Lingyan Mountain
current schedules I no longer belong to and a dog I miss.

“You dragged the lies out of me.”

Liar (perpetual)…

Settling into my new skin, the last week’s tears drying under my nails.
Yearning to sleep as I once did but living with the heavy rain.

I scan the words to see my movement. Forward movement through each phase dented but undamaged

And then, last night, after custody-dog-day, I return the dog to find her playing house in my apartment and the final phase is endured. Acceptance.

As I walk to work, I find my heart once again back in China. I see it lying on the pavement, held together with stitches, threads, barbed wire and old lies sticking out like dirty paper. I pick it up, hold it, see the wounds already healing then I push it back deep down inside to protect it. Ready for the next time.

http://www.travelblog.org/bloggers/traceyandchris

” Existiria verdade, verdade que ninguém vê, se todos fossem no mundo iguais a vc… ”

MARG,

Ca

Inspired by Mr Coelho, who with the book the Alchemist, taught me that there is nothing that stands in the way of each person’s free will.

That dreaming, is not reaching for a distant reverie cloud, but the projection of our soul’s desire.

We may not grasp the complex reality that we see today, but like the bud springs open after a long winter, we need only one thing;

Faith.

…………………………………………………

Do you believe you are the creator of the reality you see?

I made a “To Do Before I Die – list”

http://inwardsun.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/things-to-do-before-i-die

Use it as inspiration for creating your own!

Love and Light,

Inwardsun

with all my love
Sido

angels with us , thanks

“My patient, Mrs. Withers (not her real name), was forty-five and morbidly obese. “I swear I’ve cut my calories to almost nothing,” she told me, “but I haven’t lost a pound! I eat the exact same thing every day: a banana for breakfast, a turkey sandwich on wheat bread for lunch, and a piece of fish or steak for dinner. And no snacks in between! I used to eat twice as much, easily. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong!”

She was literally on the verge of tears. I fully understood her frustration, as well as why her attempts at dieting hadn’t worked. Most of my patients who try to lose weight long-term ultimately fail, though not for lack of trying. Both physiologic and psychological mechanisms are in place that make sustained weight loss incredibly difficult. But, as I told Mrs. Withers, if you understand some of the mechanisms you’re up against in trying to lose weight, you’ll be able to leverage that understanding into weight loss strategies that work.”

To read the full post, visit my blog at:
http://happinessinthisworld.com

With all my love
Sido

I also want to say to ask everyone if they agree with the folllowing: Spiritual Truth is Experiental, Not a Belief System. Read this article to know what this means. http://www.youaretrulyloved.com/enlightenment/spiritual-truth-is-experiential-not-a-belief-system/

I know that you feel alone and especially misunderstood.
And the question which comes when we have visions, it is ” to whom to speak? they will not understand(include)!! ” It is so important, it is destabilizing, it is mystic and magic at once(at the same time), it is disturbing and formidable at once(at the same time).
I lived big mystic moments, and we feel so alone.
But you are not only

For His love , our feear and our love for all : sidopaul66@gmail.com

But I would like to make a list of the REASONS WHY READING A BOOK IS BETTER THAN WATCHING TV: can you help me?

Let me start with a very easy reason:

1) Reading a book allows you to hear the sound of the rain in the background.

Would you add some more?

Thank you!

Rossana Curri

you know how love makes you feel… feel… so light.
and how you want to be better.
and you think you can be better.

Funny how you love someone you dont know.