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| ARTICLES: Editor's Welcome |
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Do not wait for
extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations. -- Jean Paul Richter |
| two
hearts two minds in time did find one love one aim two paths the same rejoice! hold fast! ...and love will last. |
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| Late in the
winter of 1998, Diane and I had a plan; to move to Oregon and start a
spiritual retreat on a ranch owned by friends of ours. We had even
bought a 37-foot travel trailer a year earlier to be our
temporary home, whenever we got around to acting on “our plan”.
Now we obviously had this plan for some time and honestly we weren't
making any real progress on it, but at least we had a plan. Then one
night as I sat typing on the computer, Diane asked, “What do you think
about moving to North Carolina”? Pausing only for a second, without looking up from the screen, I answered, “Sure sounds good”. Now I know what you're thinking, he wasn't really listening. You're probably even thinking it was the “E-version” of the classic “dad reading the paper thing” and that I was just giving the classic “Yes Dear” response. Nope! I really did hear her and it really did just sound right. It even sounded right a moment later, when I stopped again and really gave it some thought. Of course with serious thought came serious fear, but it still sounded right. Diane’s plan shattering question was no casual query, nor an attempt to pull me from the computer. Her question was born of a very vivid dream, in which she saw the two of us driving down a highway with beautiful green grass in the median and beautiful green deciduous forests flanking both sides of the road. In the dream she was trying to convince me to move to North Carolina. She ignored the dream, but it persisted. The scene would even erupt into view while doing the dishes or other waking chores, so important was the message that the dream carried. Spiritual guidance dreams, we have learned, will not be ignored, and will bug you until acted upon. Interestingly enough, my calm answer to her question seemed to indicate that while Diane was dreaming that she was convincing me to move, I was really being convinced. At any rate, our plans were definitely changed, as we began our first great moving adventure. Once the decision was made, everything fell into place. I gave my employer, of more than a decade, three-months notice of my resignation. It was received with some raised eyebrows; after all, I was leaving a good job with security, great benefits and salary for the complete unknown. But, with that act of commitment, the synchronicities really started presenting themselves. The Universe conspired not only to make this move happen , but also to give us daily reassurance, that we were on the right path. For example, back in the very beginning of Diane’s work, when she might only see a couple folks a week, she suddenly got three visits in short order all with real ties to North Carolina (two were moving back to this area). It also turns out that the owner of the shop she was working out of attended UNC Chapel Hill (About ten minutes from where I am writing this article) so he gave her lots of advice and information too. To make the long story short, we bought an old truck, sold or gave away everything we couldn’t take, put the house on the market and left. Just Diane, our cat, Unique and I. With no idea where we were to go other than “the Triangle area” in North Carolina, we took thirty-one days to cross the country. Within 3 days of arriving we found a place where we could park our trailer and live indefinitely. Within a week we found the Shop (Herbal Harvest III) that would be where Diane’s business would take off, and it happened that the shop owner lived just a mile past us on the same road (a ready made ride to work for Diane every morning, and the beginning of a real friendship). So as you can see, it is with some experience in following our hearts guidance that we answer the call to move again. This time however it is even easier, as we did not require such a huge kick in the butt to make the choice. Again the signs are clear and lots of little synchronicities have been provided as moral support, and food for thought (it helps to keep the head busy when the heart is leading you). In closing, I leave you with a quote, the origin of which is uncertain to me. I found this on the Internet attributed to Goethe (and from there I copied it). Later I read the same thing attributed to an explorer. So with apologies to the true author, I offer it anyway as its wisdom bears repeating especially now. It speaks to the power of real commitment and it goes like this. "Until one is committed there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events from the decision, raising in ones favor are unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." |
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