The life lessons of today are whispered between two old men.
Two old friends candidly unravel 5 of the secrets of life to the ear that is there to listen. Uninvited.
Before you dive in, think:
“What do you think is the brain’s best quality?”
Lesson 1: Dedicate a little time to yourself.
Before you hear these two old friends, you see them.
You see them getting out of the morning sea of white gold.
Intuition hints to me that this is the way to inner peace.
Realistically, how can you be aware, present, and grateful when the alarm of life rings and you are off to duty? Better to take some time off.
How can you switch the autopilot off if your eyes are not set on you since you open them every day?
Start with yourself.
Befriend yourself. Every day.
Lesson 2: Losing your path is okay.
As I complete Lesson 1 — I do not dare swim on this nameless coast as it is deep. But, not as deep as the layers of the upcoming conversation between friends.
I read, however, and will read people in a little bit. Patience.
The two old men catch my attention with the following phrase:
I told my granddaughter yesterday that losing your path is okay! Her inexperience did not let her believe me, but she will learn like I did!
How many times did my own grandfathers lose their path?
Why didn’t I ask about the answers that the evergreen souls of my grandparents held?
Blinded by my young naivety, my green soul, I have to request lessons I won’t believe just yet.
Fortunately, a lesson wakes me up — Losing My Path Is Okay.
Now I am free to do anything. I am free because I am lost.
Lesson 3: Connect to Nature.
The two old men do not wait for my inexperienced soul to think about the revealed just yet.
Surrounded by the sun’s rays, obediently reflected by the sea, the man on the left starts drawing his family history in the sand of his friend’s mind.
He paints the branches that illustrate the loss of path.
Dear Reader, you have to understand that I need to leave a little mystery, to hide a little part of this moment in a sacred place of my inexperienced heart. Come closer, though, because I will leave you with a few words you need to string together.
In the early to mid-XX century, a woman marries, births children, loses a husband, becomes a merchant, learns to be an outstanding merchant, speaks in 5 languages, raises children of the world, brings them back to the fields under the Balkan mountain, her children have their children, and their children have more children, and one of these children is in front of me and you.
It is in these Balkan fields that the woman and her children, and their children, and their children’s children plant lessons.
In the leaves, in the buds, the words shared between many are sprouting.
You and I collect a handful of fruits today.
Get to know the nature before you. Befriend the nature around you.
One of these men knows the fields of his ancestors and learns the story of the waters in which he bathes daily.
The other keeps his lessons a secret today and only listens.
Lesson 4: Remember the past but do not live in it.
The other lends an ear to the nature that grows in his friend and reminds him to not get tangled in the roots of yesterday.
The trees of life are in us but we are not trees and we have to move.
I stand there, present, listening, a stranger to my own life — appreciating it for what it is, looking at the horizon.
The two figures in front of this orange horizon bring a new challenge.
A new challenge and the last lesson for you and me.
Lesson 5, Challenge For You: Have at least one insightful conversation a day. And Listen.
Think of people that you remember.
What do you remember about them?
I remember the hands of my great-grandmother and her healing words, I remember the way my granddad talked and walked, worked and smiled, I remember the gentle humour of my mother’s uncle, I remember the way my friend created art.
We remember the hands, we remember the mouth.
We remember the “did”, we remember the “said”.
Build bridges with your words.
Before departure, before the unsaid goodbye, the two old men share with me about a friend of theirs and his lesson.
Do you remember what Mitko used to say?
The best quality of the brain is that it forgets!
Sharing a sweet laugh, one of my teachers today pushes a bike while my other teacher walks right beside him.
Let your mouth tangle in words the lessons you have found.
Let your ear untangle the lessons you have to find.
Until next listening,
K
