| “Do you have Prime?” I asked the smiling young woman on the other side of my register.
“My husband does. His phone number is…” Her voice trailed off and I glanced up to see her eyes scanning her brain for the numbers.
I smiled to myself and put the last few items into her bag before I said, “I’m ready for it now.”
She offered a few numbers and then giggled, “Man! I better not get arrested! I would be screwed for my one call. I can’t even remember my husband’s number?”
We both laughed and mused about how heavily we rely on our phones until her transaction was complete and she walked out of the store.
My funny bone was tickled, but my mind was more than
a little vexed for the remainder of my shift.
It’s true. I used to hold dozens of phone numbers, social security numbers,
and addresses in this brain of mine; and now I don’t even try to commit
them to memory. Geesh! Why does this bother me so?
I got my answer later that night, when I watched the movie "About Time" with my kid, per his obviously-inspired request.
If you haven’t seen it, the story revolves around a young man who finds out that the men in his family have the ability to travel back in time—to redo a moment and/or re-experience it. You can imagine how a young man might use this superpower to hone his ability to impress a girl and make her fall in love with him; and you can probably imagine how, over time, he learns that he might not have to go back in time if he figures out how to be present in the moments of his life as they happen.
As the credits rolled, I lowered the volume and turned to face my teenager who, like so many kids today, is way more connected via technology than I probably will ever be.
“So, remember the lady I told you about—who said she better not get arrested because she couldn’t remember a phone number to save her life?” I started.
He looked up from his phone and smiled back, “Yeah, that was funny.”
“Well, think about that in relation to the message of this movie.” I paused while he put his phone down and turned toward me.
“Yeah?” I could see his wheels turning, trying to catch up with me.
“Technology is AMAZING, right? I mean, we can store and access more information than I would have imagined possible when I was your age. You know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth.” I grinned and he laughed. “But think about this. What happens to US if we start to rely on technology to remember important data for us? And in light of this movie, what might be the result of using our technology to capture moments for us with pictures and selfies?”
He cocked his head to the side, intuitive gears grinding to the answer.
“Right. What if we are relying on technology to REMEMBER OUR LIVES? Does that mean that we are not capturing those images intentionally in our own memory—the faces of the people we love, the pristine views of nature, and…?” I wondered. "Will we have to scroll through albums on our phone to see those images ten, twenty, and thirty years from now?"
When his eyes widened, I knew I’d made my point
but decided to drive it home with the story of one of my clients
who had been on retreat with me the week before.
“She saw this incredible sunrise happening over Mt. Hood and grabbed her camera to capture it. By the time she got the camera ready, the clouds had covered the breathtaking view. She told the group that it was a lesson in slowing down and enjoying the moment.”
He nodded, letting me know he really got it; and we had a long talk about the amazing gift of technology and its inherent dangers if we don’t practice some mindfulness.
But that wasn’t the end of my musing about memory and mindfulness.
You see...
As a mindful messenger guide,
I witness the miracles of memory with every client.
I witness how our minds store painful moments, and how they completely push out very traumatic moments to protect us until we are ready to face them.
I witness how some minds look back and only see the good moments, and I witness how other minds can only see the pain-filled ones.
I witness how some minds completely hijack a discovery process when they know we are close to seeing a memory/moment that needs to heal because it will require revisiting the pain.
I witness how most minds relax around this process when they start to witness the divine orchestration of the moments of their lives—and how they quickly begin to capture the magic of their lives as it unfolds.
One of my clients is currently experiencing some mind-blowing message magic. When we were on retreat, she took a trip into town and came back to report the amazing affirmation of her message that she received when she randomly walked into a store and engaged one of the clerks in a conversation. Then, when she returned home from the retreat, she happened to notice a magazine that had been on a wall in her office for nine months—that she hadn’t really seen before—that basically showed a picture of a mountain and had the concept of her book idea written across the cover. She texted me to say that she had realized that only one month after meeting me, the universe was affirming her direction for the book and for working with me to write it on retreat in Mt. Hood. But she didn't see it until just now? And the events of her last week are simply awe-inspiring. Stuck on one part of her first chapter, she focused instead on working with her clients—and then found herself in the middle of client experiences and details that answered the questions she had about how to write that part.
Another client was working on the name of her brand and had texted me about its viability given some of her research. I told her we could talk about other options, but I had a really good feeling about this particular name. Less than an hour later, I got a text from her with a picture of a magazine cover that she’d just received in the mail—with a word from her new brand name and the word “Portland” in big letters on the cover.
“You can’t make this shit up…” is basically the theme of the last few weeks, and so I find myself musing about memory and magic and technology’s influence on all of it, especially after the first client asked me, “Is this amount of ‘crazy’ normal for other messengers?”
I took a minute to go back through my catalog of clients
and experiences I’ve witnessed before I wrote my reply:
“I do believe that everyone experiences this type of magic, but I think you have the ‘muscle’ and the humor to mindfully embrace the adventure as it comes.”
Hmmmm… what would those muscles be? I wondered to myself after I sent that email.
Thinking deeply about what I know of this client’s job and life, I came to three conclusions about the muscles:
#1 Her particular line of work does not have a standard rhythm to it because, like me, she is listening to people’s stories all day long, looking for patterns, and listening between the lines for what they’re not saying. Every day, every story, every person is a whole new experience, so her mind doesn’t get caught in a mind-numbing cadence.
#2
She knew before she found me that she was highly intuitive, but didn’t have anyone in her world to affirm that it was exactly as she thought. "They don't speak 'woo,'" she said. Since I affirmed it with her, the magic has been picking up velocity and intensity in its expression; and I think it's because she’s now paying even closer attention than she was before. Plus, she’s living in the daily inquiry of, “How magical is this place? What if the universe is dealing out answers all the time?”
#3 Lastly, she is one of the funniest souls I’ve met, so instead of being overwhelmed and becoming paralyzed by the intricate magic, her first response is to laugh (and try to not spit coffee all over her clients when they become the mouthpiece of the universe). I have seen some people get so serious and intense about “seeing and understanding the connections” that they lose touch with “the delight of it all.”
What if the universe is constantly organizing and reorganizing
(like the rerouting of my GPS every time I make a “wrong turn”)
the characters, plot twists, and storylines of our lives to DELIGHT us?
And what if our reliance on technology to store our data and our memories
is keeping us from being in the moment, remembering our lives,
and riding the waves of magic?
(and mess—because, let’s face it, it’s a messy world and process!)
Maybe it’s less
“I better not get arrested”
and more
“May I stay awake enough that The Wind can arrest my attention and
answer my questions in the most remarkable and delightful ways possible…”
May your attention be delightfully arrested today! |
| | Founder, True to Intention
Smart-Mouthed Seeker | Unapologetic Story Junkie | Message Oracle | Messenger Guide
Mom | Wife | Friend | Witness to Divine Intention through Story
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