WCD#01:
Things Aren’t Always What They Seem
Things aren’t always what they seem.
That was the message that stood out to me today.
And it was told to me by a stranger.
A man I’ve never met before and will likely not see again.
A random encounter in a random parking lot.
I backed up into an empty slot next to where he was parked. I was not expecting to stay, only to have a view of the ATM I was trying to get to. I was driving quickly but efficiently and in my knowing that I was going to make the turn.
The man in his car was not so sure.
He honked at me.
You know, in the past, that may have startled me. It may have made me feel anxious about the driver’s possible feelings being expressed through the car horn. Was it anger, contempt, road rage? Would it escalate? Should I acknowledge?
No to all of it, I said to myself. I will not even be phased. I was not. I was not even phased in the least about the horn sound directed at me. Whatever the intention may have been on the man’s part. I didn’t even acknowledge the horn sound at all.
In fact I forgot it so fast I was surprised by what happened next.
What happened next?
The man rolled down his window and said in a calm, easy voice, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
The comment befuddled me. In fact looking back I might have answered, “Duh.”
I didn’t say anything so he repeated himself, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
So I had to ask, “What?”
He replied, “Just that I thought you were this close to hitting me. Things aren’t always what they seem, I guess. It was an optical illusion or something.”
I said, “Yea, no worries. I did back in kind of fast.”
I had known that I was not going to hit him. And he had a right to worry if it looked like I might. Yet I had remained in my calm, in my peace, in my knowing that all was well in the situation.
And like magic it soothed the whole thing.
It could have escalated. I could have flicked him off in anger for honking at me. Then he might have rolled down his window to curse me out. A shouting match could easily have broken out right then and there in that random parking lot.
But it didn’t. No shouting, no anger, no fingers or birds flying around. Just calm. And understanding. And ease. And peace.
What a great validation that my 30 day self-soothe practice is working, that it is leading me to experience my life differently. More soothed-like. Like everything just works out fine, even great.
In fact it also seems to be infectious. As I self-soothed so did another I encountered. The random stranger in his car also responded in a soothed manner. He was calm and easy rather than confrontational. So funny. So easy.
Don’t Break an Egg
The first and obvious title I began with was the main theme: “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
But when I asked my inner guidance to help title the post, some odd words came to mind.
“Don’t Break an Egg, Things Aren’t Always What They Seem”
At first I questioned the additional words since they were just so odd. So unexpected.
Still, I thought maybe there was something more to it and was convinced to write the title out just for fun, just to see what might happen. The words sounded interesting anyways. They were mysterious and open to interpretation. I like those features.
A moment later, I understood it. I began to know what the words indicated.
So here goes.
The impression I was given goes like this: If you have an egg, you know that it is fragile. You know that you do not want to crack it and break it and spill it. You know that the contents of the egg can be messy and challenging to clean up. And smelly. Eggs are handled with care, for they are precarious.
Situations that come up in life can be like that, can be like eggs. They can be precarious, for one false move and the delicate balance can be shattered. And there is often a mess inside the egg, the situation, and the only thing holding the mess in is liable to crack at any moment.
That’s if it is approached wrongly.
Instead of clumsily cracking the egg situation, it is possible to be more delicate and keep the mess from spilling out.
Like this occurrence today in the random parking lot. The egg was the perceived near-hit of a man’s car and the fear or anger he expressed at me with his horn.
Now, if I had responded in a certain way, too clumsy in my own feelings to see past and let it go, I could have cracked it right open and started a scene. I could have responded back at him in anger or fear and let the whole mess out of its shell.
Instead, I treated the situation like a delicate egg whose contents were not meant to spill out. I held it calmly and didn’t react hastily or clumsily. I simply let it be.
And the egg held steady. And instead of the mess spilling out, a new life was born. A life in which the stranger and I were at ease and did not have to have an altercation.
This was an egg worth hatching, not breaking.
Get it?
So don’t break the egg next time. And remember that things aren’t always what they seem.
Be easy.
Please remember to comment and share. Do you break eggs in your life that don’t need to be broken? How can you hold them more delicately?
Blessings to you all,
Matthew
DAY 27
P.S.
Day 26 of 30 Day Challenges
The blog series in which I am completing my challenge from 30dayblogchallenge.com!
As well as a self-made challenge inspired by Abraham Hicks in which I self-soothe myself through negative emotion.
At the end of this 30 day journey I intend to be more fully on my life’s path, “all systems go.”
Challenge Progress Report
For 30 Day Blog Challenge, today’s lesson was about finding my tribe. Yes, I would love to do that. Find the community of readers and contributors, movers and shakers that I wish to be a part of. That is actually an essential part of writing this blog in the first place. Besides getting me writing and producing content, I want to attract and connect with the right community or tribe. So come on, I’m here. Find me.
As for the 30 Day Self-Soothe Challenge, I have had some great evidence of its effectiveness in the last day. Like this morning when I decided to get out of the left turn lane because I wanted to go straight. Well the cop that pulled me over didn’t seem to agree. But I was calm, not worried about any ticket or fine or trouble. I was not going to hassle the cop. And lo and behold, he let me off the ticket because he was in a spare car. I suppose didn’t have his ticket writing stuff. LMAO moment.
The above post was another example of my self-soothing journey leading me to more ease and less altercations in life. So satisfying to see.
Thank you for reading this far, again. Blessings to you.