Connectedness

Ah, that sense of connectedness feels so good doesn’t it?

I met with an old friend for lunch yesterday and we decided to go and check out a little cafe that is just a few blocks away from my house.  Since moving back home, I’ve been trying to acclimate myself to living back in the inner city, and to reacquaint myself with my old neighborhood, and what better way is there to get reacquainted with the neighborhood than to spend time at a local cafe?

The city lifestyle is so different from the country and the suburbs, where I had been living for the 20 years prior, so it’s been a big adjustment for me.  Just dealing with all of the traffic alone is huge, not to mention all the noise.  And my little nature loving self longs for the calm, quiet, natural spaces.  Because I’m so sensitive to the vibes of my surroundings, I sometimes find myself struggling from being sucked in and drained by the busy, and often chaotic atmosphere of the city.  But at the same time, I seem to have gradually carved out a little inner sanctuary of sorts within myself, which I bring with me whenever I go, so I still have a little place of peace inside of me even amidst all the chaos.  And then as I go about my business around the city and interact with people I try to open the doors of that sanctuary to share and invite others to a little of that peace I carry within.  I know that sounds a bit weird to put it that way, but I don’t really know how else to describe it.  Either way, it helps me cope.  And hopefully it benefits others as well.

As I sat and visited with my friend, in this charming cafe, we talked about some of the things that we’re each passionate about at the moment – she about subatomic particles, Higgs boson, and molecular biology, and me about nature, the universe, and the Qigong practices I’ve been doing lately.  And we expounded on those things in relation to God, spirituality, humanity, and the purpose of life (which we summed up is to love, by the way).  Needless to say, it was a very stimulating conversation, as it always is with this friend.  I adore her and so value the wonderful connection we’ve shared over all these years ~ 33 years, to be exact.

Anyway, it was when we took our conversation outside that brings me to the subject of this post.  Maybe it was just a natural extension from/because of the topics we were discussing, but as we sat out in front of the cafe, I began to feel a real sense of connection to the vibe of my neighborhood, like I fit in here somehow.  It was a strange sensation because I’ve felt a bit lost as to where my place is since my divorce in 2011, and I certainly haven’t felt any connection with the whole city vibe in general, as I mentioned earlier, so it was weird, but in a cool way.

All the people who passed by us were friendly and I felt connected to them too.  A guy passed by with his dog and I even felt connected to the dog.  The dog must have felt it too because she ran right up to me like she knew me, like I was a long lost friend or something.  Her owner even seemed a bit surprised about it and was awkwardly apologizing as her leash got all tangled up around me while she was weaving in and out between my legs so happy to see me.  It was adorable.  The dog and her awkward owner.  And it felt so wonderful to feel connected.

I’ve always felt that sense of connection with nature, with my fellow humans (in a general sense), and with spiritual things, but it was really cool to feel it in relation to my neighborhood, I haven’t felt it in that way for a long time, and it gave me a fresh sense of wanting to become more involved in my community.  I don’t know how long I’ll be living here, or what the future holds, but I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now, and that’s a great feeling.

And you know… in actuality, we’re all connected.  We each have only to open up ourselves to realize it.

 

“Find the sweetness in your own heart,

then you may find the sweetness in every heart.”

                                                                    ~ Rumi

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May your day be filled with sweetness, connectedness, and with…

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿