Whatever Takes Us Out Of Ourselves Takes Us Forward On Our Path

Today at brunch we ran into my dear friend Jean who is 88 years old. We met singing in a church choir several years ago; she’s still there, I left. Jean is one of the strongest and most positive people I have ever known.

I actually had a note in my appointment book to call her and visit for tea. What precipitated my note was seeing Jean on the street a couple of weeks ago. It was the most touching sight…Jean with her nicely coiffed hair was helping a very old eastern European woman named Helen push her cart of recyclables along the street. Both women are familiar to almost everyone in the community. Helen is known as the woman who “keeps Gibsons tidy”.

Jean is a BC native and has raised 4 sons and one daughter; she has 18 great- grandchildren. She does strengthening exercises each morning before getting out of bed, and still plays piano at the parent-tot drop-in 3 mornings a week. Our relationship at choir was a mutually supportive one; there was something of a mother-daughter energy in it.

As Jean told us more about her rich long life today and about the loss of her husband almost 4 years ago, we were transported outside ourselves and our narrow personal focus. We both agreed later that our conversation with her put things more in perspective for us.

Whatever takes us out of ourselves helps us move forward on our path. It might be a chance meeting like we had today; it could be a formal meditation session, perhaps a hike in the woods, walk on the beach, creating a painting or singing. The act of doing this allows us to step away from our everyday life for a moment and to view things slightly differently. It brings us closer to our center, that place where our true self lives.