Saturday, June 29, 2013

Be Still and the Elephants May Begin Speaking To You

It's been a few years since my whole Africa adventure.  This week I went out to the store, and inadvertently met a woman from Malawi.  She was beautiful and it only took me about five seconds to click with her and feel so much love towards her.  Then, later that night I came home and found this video clip, in which Martha Beck, a life coach who works with Oprah, spoke about how to feel more happiness and joy in life.  Her very first point is to Stand Still.  The idea that if we truly listen, there is a higher power that steers us in the right direction and leads us.  She recounted her own adventure in Africa, and how at one given point she felt like the elephants spoke to her.  Immediately I thought of how true that was in my own experience.  Especially because I was still learning Portuguese and all my technology gadgets died, I had no choice, I had to be still.  It's almost impossible not to be still in Africa.  It's that stillness that put me in harmony with myself and with the world around me.  It DID bring me joy.  And I could feel the earth, the people, and the animals speaking to me.  Thinking about Africa again kind of crept up on me.  I've been so worried about other aspects of my life that I'd crowded those sweet experiences out of my mind.  These two encounters made me wonder if perhaps I'm not meant to close the chapter on Africa quite yet.  Perhaps there's still more the elephants need to share with me.