Tuesday 14 August 2012

People - Coincidence or Design?

Unless you find yourself marooned on a desert island, or cast adrift on the ocean, or lost in the jungles of the Amazon, the chances are that during the course of any given day, you will have the opportunity to meet and converse with a great many people.  Of course, typically we are too busy to talk to every single person we pass on the street, or see on the bus or train.  This would not be possible and quite frankly, you would be looked at as being decidedly odd, if you were to attempt it.  However, there are many times when we do talk with people, some of whom are known to us and others, whom we meet at seemingly random times and places.  When this occurs, when two people talk with one another, there is an opportunity to receive a message and to be the provider of a message.

When I look back on my life, I can see how fortunate I have been to have met certain people who have had a profound influence and affect on me.  It seems that these people delivered to me messages and helped to guide me towards the beginning of my own journey and to taking the first step along my path, even if they did not realise that this was what they were doing.  In some way, these people helped to shape my destiny and helped to solidify the ideas that were already held inside of me.  They helped me to hear and to heed the voice of my heart.

Some of these meetings and events can seem insignificant at the time, but what transpires after can shape your destiny.  Take for example the action of my friend K, who, as we shared a taxi ride in Budapest one evening, reached into her handbag and pulled out an English version of The Alchemist.  She handed it to me and said to me that I might enjoy it.  This simple gesture of one friend lending a book to another would become the catalyst for everything that followed.  How could either she or I have known the significance of that moment as it occurred? 

I sometimes wonder whether certain people are placed on our paths in order that we should have the opportunity to meet with them, and to exchange messages with them.  I can think of many other people who have come into my life and delivered to me very significant messages.  Even if I did not realise it at the time, looking back I can see how each of these people gave to me a piece of my jigsaw.  I am able to see how I took each of their messages and pieced them together, until I reached the point of awakening to the voice of my heart and to the pursuit of my own path in life.

It also occurs to me that in order to receive the messages from the people we meet, we have to be open and we have to be ready to hear and to perceive the meaning of the message.  We have to listen not only with our ears but also with our hearts.  An open heart is required so that we may truly connect with the other person on a spiritual level.  The timing of the meeting is crucial because the possibility exists that we meet with the person, but we are not yet ready to receive their message.  Imagine how many countless millions, if not billions, of actions and events have had to occur in order for us to meet the right person, at the right place, at the right time.  Actions and events that take place before we were born, before even our parents or grandparents were born.  In fact, every single action and event that has happened since the beginning of time plays a vital role in delivering us at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right place.  That's quite incredible when you think about it.

Are these meetings coincidence or design?  Unfortunately, there is no certain answer to the question.  I believe that people come to us when we need them and they deliver the message that we need to hear - if we are open to hearing the message.  For me, that only occurs when we have an open heart and mind to the wonderful possibilities and miracles of life.  Love comes from the heart, it is love that drives this world and it is love that created and maintains all life.  By having an open heart, we are immersing ourselves in the most wonderful energy - the energy of creation.

So, it is simple then.  Always live with an open heart.  Always be ready to hear and to receive the messages.  And never be surprised when you become the messenger yourself.  All things are one.

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