Have a Little Faith

I love reading borrowed books, and I love lending my favorite books out. People read so differently. I know someone who reads with a highlighter and highlights her favorite sentences. To mark my pages, I use a bookmark I was gifted by a friend that says "Oh my god! I'm wierd in a good way and you're creepy in a good way!" HIGH FIVE (and it's now, years and years later I notice her spelling mistake....but maybe we are a little wierd). It was one of our many revelations over coffee, and one of the many that circles back to the fact that how we're being in that moment is the only way to be. Our moments are perfect, and deserve high fives. I dog ear the bottom of pages to remind me of the things I like, much like my highlighting friend.

The funny thing about this, is that for me, it works like a diary. A book I read and dog-eared 2 years ago would be dog-eared in entirely different places today. Maybe I'm a buddhist reader, the world is neutral and the only thing that exists are our reactions to it...how we interpret things, and that can change if we want it to.

This is something from have a little faith by Mitch Albom that I really liked...

One concerns a farmer who wakes up to find his horse has run off.
The neighbors come by and say, "Too bad. Such awful luck."
The farmer says, "Maybe."
The next day, the horse returns with a few other horses. The neighbors congratulate the farmer on his reversal of fortune.
"Maybe," the farmer says.
When his son tries to ride one of the new horses, he breaks his leg, and the neighbors offer condolences.
"Maybe," the farmer says.
And the next day, when army officials come to draft the son - and don't take him because of his broken leg - everyone is happy.
"Maybe," the farmer says.
I have hears stories like this before. They are beautiful in their simplicity and surrender to the universe. I wonder if I could be attached to something so detached. I don't know. Maybe.

This is so lovely to me. I want to go to India, but the possibility of that happening this May was looking better last week than it is today. I know I'm going to India - I want to see what all the fuss is about, I want immerse myself in it - so, I know I am going. But, I'm attached to how I'm getting there. It HAS to be through my school, it HAS to be this May, it HAS to happen in THIS way. The fact is, most of the things I want to do in India, I could do without ever leaving my house if I really wanted to, so I don't even really HAVE to go to India.

This is why I love reading.

MAYBE I'll go to India, MAYBE it will be this May, MAYBE it will be through school. MAYBE I'll stay home, MAYBE I'll go in February, June, or next year, MAYBE it will be through the time machine in my basement. BUT I will still have 10 days to myself that involve nothing but yoga, indian food, no one to talk to, and lots of time to wander in and out of my own head. Those are my objectives and I'm getting there - that's what I'm attached to. I'm not attached to the 'how' of things and it opens me up to so many more opportunities. I mean, c'mon...a time machine in my basement is a pretty cool way to travel.

Maybe is my new favorite word.