Later that evening, in my effort to continue to work toward said downsizing, I spent some time going through old cooking magazines to determine which recipes I thought I might actually make so I could store them in a more orderly fashion — portable, easy-to-use binders — and recycle the rest of the bulky magazines. (For those of us who are challenged by piles of unruly paper, the binder is a miraculous invention indeed. But I digress.) Lo and behold, in one of last year’s issues I came across a how-to article about releasing stuff and feeling a whole lot lighter and happier for the effort.
How perfect. I smiled again.These dual confirmation messages came on the heels of another pair from a few weeks ago. I was coming back from walking my canine munchkin and my landlord handed me several pieces of mail that likely had arrived a few days before. When I got inside and looked at what awaited inspection, I knew I had received that particular mail bundle at just the right time.
The first thing I opened was a sweet thinking-of-you card from one of my oldest friends. Inside it she had taped a message that had been attached to one of her tea bags: “Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.”
My sentiments exactly.
The second piece of mail that caught my eye was an auto club magazine with a cover headline that read “The Simple Life.”
Funny thing was, just before the walk, I had been thinking about simplicity — simplifying life, having less, enjoying more, being more minimalist. And the tea-bag wisdom fits right in with the feeling I have had right along about living mobilely: being able to go, do, be and serve as I feel guided, at any given moment. Yet on that day, and for a few days before it, the dream of full-time RV living had felt further away than ever.
I am so grateful for loving confirmation messages. They are blessings that whisper, “Yes.” “Keep going.” “You are on the right track.” Those are all important things to hear, especially when the mind sometimes seems to shout missives of its own: “Are you crazy?” “What makes you think you can do this?” “This is never going to happen.” “It’s too hard.” “You’ll never get it all done in time.” Yada yada yada.
I’ve come to learn that those mind tricks are really part and parcel of the journey. Doing anything that requires a rather large leap of faith, even when — or perhaps especially when — we feel Divinely guided to take that leap, will likely meet with resistance from some part of ourselves that would rather we stay hidden away in some manner that it deems “safe.”
To that I say, let us not hide our light, or our dreams, under a bushel, or a basket, or in any dark corners of our mind where fear may lurk. Let’s pull all those puppies out and let ’em shine.
I love this quote (author unknown), which is also my intention: “Focus on your dreams rather than your history.”
I bet that's what folks who love what they do in this world, like the Courtyard Hounds and their band certainly seem to, actually do. Here's a pic from their great concert last night, which is part of LL Bean's free summer concert series.
There must be something about this stage that I enjoy. It's the same one I included in my inaugural blog post, but this time it's full of folks performing. And it still has those cool green globes in the background. :)
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