Signs

I rode my bike to Newport Beach yesterday. It took a little longer than I thought it would, so it gave me a lot of time to think about...

Signs. I hadn't thought about signs in a while, but I have seen several signs lately. Signs are never very important by themselves, but they keep us pointed in the right direction, or make sure we have something we need, such as a piece of information, or direction in life.

The day before yesterday, OCD went bike riding with me from her place to the Pier in Huntington Beach. Gorgeous day, by the way. You could see Long Beach to the North and Catalina Island to the West pretty clearly.

We stopped at a Starbuck's and a guy sat down next to us, who started talking to us about something he was doing online that would cost .50 to watch at his website. It was sort of a random conversation that he started out of the blue, but from there he went into how he does what he really loves for work, and that too many people are stressed and don't stop to smell the flowers.

OCD doesn't really like talking to people. She is very shy, and an introvert. I think she gets embarrassed that I talk to just anyone I want.

And so, on the bike ride today, I was thinking how it is that if you are nervous to talk to people, or afraid to talk to people, or don't like to talk to people, you are giving up one of the avenues through which we are given information from God.

OCD and I were riding back down Main Street after we left Starbuck's when I saw a guy in a very cool-looking car. Now, how would I know the name of the car if I didn't ask him what it was? This is a small example that means nothing except to prove that people are all around us to help us. In fact, when I asked the guy what make the car was, a woman crossing the street right then called out "Saturn" to me. People are all around us to offer help, and it's so strange how all the answers from different sources add up to help us head in a certain direction.

Yes, I'm crazy.

There is this whole picture of life that looks like a painting, and if we look for clues, we are directed to our niche. Each mark on that painting is there for a reason. New strokes are added every day.

What is it that you are meant to do here on Earth? I believe we each have a destiny, and if we find it, it will be as Emerson said:

A little consideration of what takes place around us every day would show us, that a higher law than that of our will regulates events; that our painful labors are unnecessary, and fruitless; that only in our easy, simple, spontaneous action are we strong, and by contenting ourselves with obedience we become divine.

Belief and love, — a believing love will relieve us of a vast load of care. O my brothers, God exists. There is a soul at the centre of nature, and over the will of every man, so that none of us can wrong the universe.

It has so infused its strong enchantment into nature, that we prosper when we accept its advice, and when we struggle to wound its creatures, our hands are glued to our sides, or they beat our own breasts.

The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word.

Why need you choose so painfully your place, and occupation, and associates, and modes of action, and of entertainment? Certainly there is a possible right for you that precludes the need of balance and willful election.

For you there is a reality, a fit place and congenial duties. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which animates all whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.

Then you put all gainsayers in the wrong. Then you are the world, the measure of right, of truth, of beauty. If we will not be mar-plots with our miserable interferences, the work, the society, letters, arts, science, religion of men would go on far better than now, and the heaven predicted from the beginning of the world, and still predicted from the bottom of the heart, would organize itself, as do now the rose, and the air, and the sun.

There were signs that led me to law school. I think OCD is seeing signs that are leading her into photography. If each of us simply pays attention, there are signs that will guide each of us in our endeavors.

The point is, if you're afraid to talk to people, you will possibly not hear something that you needed to hear. You might miss a clue.

There was something that happened yesterday or the day before that was also causing me to think about all of this. I'll try to remember and then come back with it.

But this is not just about destinies. There are different, smaller goals that we work on, such as my cases that I work on. I get information from many different sources, not just my law books.