Brisbane: Questions Change Your Day

I decided to go and buy a paper today and just marvelled at all the interesting conversations I had. I am generally friendly when I am out and about and find I have no fear of people, they always have something to teach me. So I felt I will share with you the diversity I experienced by being open to life.

As soon as I left the house I saw a lady in a long coat get off the bus. At first I didn’t recognise her but then realised she is one of the tenants at the homeless hostel. First impressions is that she looked rough, but she is actually the loveliest woman. Very wise and noble. We stood talking in the sunlight and she told me of her love of animals. She explained some of her experiences. She said one time she remembers all these bikies were torturing a dog they were apparently going to kill it and BBQ it. She could hear the dog screaming. Horrible thought, I shuddered. She ran into the centre of these men with no fear. She grabbed the dog with its broken legs and took it home. She wondered at the neighbours who did nothing and she said apparently the bikies have tortured the dog many times. She said she took it to the vet and a few days later they wanted to put it down. She said no, she would care for it. They said it would cost her $1,500 to take it. So she made a decision to pay the money for the veterinary expenses. Then she mentioned that the bikies came to her door and demanded she pay $500 for the dog. Extortion was alive and well in this group of men, greed and cruelty. They didn’t like her showing any power and I suspect the money was a way to justify hurting her if she didn’t pay. Such is the insecurity of bullies. She said the dog was very afraid, apparently it was a golden retriever. She said when she went to get this dog it knew, it was waiting for her the staff said, it ran straight to her. As I listened to this story I tried to understand what makes some men enjoy cruelty to animals. She went on to tell me that this dog became her companion and she said the dog knew when she was coming home at odd times. I read a story of the psychic powers of dogs, this is not a new story. Also she said the dog saved her life, she had a brain tumour (which she didn’t know) and was getting headache’s, the dog used to follow her everywhere and get her out of the shower as she may collapse, it would nibble at her legs to get her attention or gentle pull at her hair. It was trying to warn her to sit down and was watching over her. She decided to go to the doctor and she realised she was sick. She said the dog was meant to be hers and how incredible they saved each others lives. I asked her about her courage and she said it is something within her with children or animals, no fear, goes straight in there. Never bought a pet they come to her she said, she recalls a dog jumping over her fence. I was amazed. I said she was a bit like a horse whisperer. She said she liked animals better than people.

There was a story in the Brisbane Courier Mail today about a beautiful black swan being killed by a group of youths. Apparently the male swan sat on the egg, distressed. We have no idea of the rights of animals to live in peace.

Another story this lady told me was of a boy riding his bike with a puppy in the spokes going round and round. She was in the passenger seat of a car with her husband and she was just about to have a baby. She was horrified when she saw this puppy. She had the car stopped and she jumped out and pushed the kid off the bike. He swore at her and she took the pup. He said he wanted it back and she said ‘I don’t think so’. Her husband warned her one day something was going to happen to her given her protection of animals. She said to me ‘nothing has’.

The next story was gruesome, she said she was travelling and took the wrong turn and ended up going 20 km out of her way. She heard a chain saw and some men were cutting horses. She said the horses were in panic. She could hear their distress. She rang the police and emergency services, they advised her to get in the car. She said she couldn’t, something inside her said no. She ran into the paddock and the men did run, although one stopped and put a gun to her head. She said she was calm. She spoke to the man calmly whilst waiting for him to pull the trigger. She said she had no fear. He said to her ‘I can do it’, ‘I can do it’. She waited. He became frustrated and we surmised it was because she showed no fear. That is when it clicked for me, they get off on the fear, had she shown fear he would have felt powerful and that is the reason for the cruelty. So my question was answered through this story.

Her courage was amazing and selfless and I was glad there were people in the world like this who value animals. It is hard to connect to the detachment of those cruel. She said there are people who are cruel, both men and women. So it was interesting. I also talked with her that I had never seen cruelty and it was interesting she was there when these acts were happening. Meant to be there I said. She said in those moments of jumping in she said there was a purpose. This is the essence, there is purpose in everything, nothing is happening for no reason. I said we are standing here talking about it now. I am writing this and it is going to you, so there is your ripple effect. You may tell someone after reading this blog, the message is communicated. I said goodbye to her, walking away inspired by her story.

I walked further down the road to buy a paper. I met a Chinese lady in the newsagent who is from the South of China. I asked her about life in China and languages. She said most people speak Mandarin and those in the South tend to speak Cantonese. Hong Kong people speak Cantonese, apparently the characters are the same but the accent is different. Across China there are different accents given where people live. I asked her about the language and she described it as pictorial. I asked if she sees or thinks differently in Chinese compared to English. She said she has to think in Chinese for complex sentences in English. She said Chinese thinking is different to English thinking. She called the English language, the language of letters. I imagined all the different languages and how we see, express, commuicate differently given the language. I remembered my ex-partner telling me that Pashtun was a wonderful poetic language and he could express more depth in his language. So here we just assume English is easy and don’t question our thinking or reality, yet we live in many worlds with different viewpoints, perceptions and expressions and perhaps this is why we misunderstand each other so much. Chinese doesn’t have a history in English and visa versa, completely seperate language evolution. I thanked her for sharing. I said good bye to this lovely lady and kept walking down the road.

I saw a place that was a healing, Karma, spiritual sort of place lots of lovely smelling incense coming out of there. I suddently thought to say to the owner that a tea room would be a good idea, selling herbal teas to get peope to come and sit and take in the space. She said we were just talking about that. I told them I was a peace clown having travelled the world. I said I am learning acceptance and allowance. I said spiritually you can say these things but to really live it is not easy. It means allowing life to show up as it does and not feeling fear around loss. You can’t lose anything, life is a continuous experience. Apparently something I said one woman said we were just speaking of that. She said you have just helped us confirm to make a tea space. One lady served a customer. So with that I smiled and kept going.

I ended up sitting for a coffee looking at the paper at the news. All negative news, just amazes me how non-uplifting the newspaper is. I don’t read the negatives that much. I tend to be interested in world politics, so quick to note the Libyan situation and US politics. How Obama is fairing. I am noticing many are starting to not like him, but the reality is no single person is responsible for the state of a nation, really it is the people who decide collectively what is the world they want. Bush got in two terms and when you see the false pretences that war was committed, and here in Australia our PM supported the US position, you can only look at the media and the people and ask what sort of world do they want? We are all responsible.

Anyway as I am sitting there a Security guard comes up and says no dogs here. I was a bit perplexed at first and then realised this sweet little terrier is sitting next to my chair. ‘I didn’t know the dog was there’ I said to him. We ended up having a long chat. He told me he had broken up from his wife and he had told his family not to go on his facebook page, much bitterness. He had gone from a 5 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom unit for $150. He found his work was becoming stressful he told me how he had just told a bloke that if he wore his security card he could get fined. The guy reacted and said ‘no-one told me’, he said it many times, he was having a go at the Security guy. He then said ‘are you calling me no-one’? and then the tension was there. Apparently the boss moved him somewhere else. He felt injustice. I said from a conflict resolution point of view what you say is ‘oh no-one told you, well I’ve told you and hopefully that helps you out’. So I explained to him not to react it only escalates, just serve him and move on. I said if you are getting tense then that is your issue. You have to look at why you feel defensive or you feel a threat, I said beneath that you are afraid, and I assured him there is nothing wrong with that (no less manly) but to be honest and notice. He took that in. We ended up talking about refugees and single mum’s he had issues with both groups feeling they were getting too much money and priviledges. I explained my viewpoint on refugees and the fact the majority were genuine particularly from Iraq and Afghanistan. I know from experience some don’t access welfare and they certainly don’t get return tickets to their countries. He had an idea of all these privileges, he talked about them as ‘middle eastern men’. I saw the racist undertones and was quick to say that there are many sides. I said even if you are right let’s say the government did that, then the problem is there not in the people. We shouldn’t divide from people on the basis of government decisions. He also felt white anglo saxen Christian men were the lowest of the pile. I was surprised to hear he thought that. Later on I reflected on that and realised that is why people become angry at foreigners they feel somehow disgrunted that they have no power. So power is central to many of these issues I felt. I went on to say it doesn’t make you feel good to focus there. I encouraged him to focus on the good. He admitted he is feeling depressed. I said try to see the good, not rose coloured glasses, but just look at the good in life. At the end of the day you can’t control other people or what is going on around you, you can decide how to live and what makes you happy. Go there, examine your thoughts and strive for what makes you feel good. He liked that and I saw his face soften. He told me of the advantages of living in his place and that he had more money since leaving his wife. All good I thought. He then introduced himself to me and we shook hands. He said he is there every Thursday and was letting me know if I wanted to see him that is where he will be. It was a joy to speak to him.

I then caught up with a friend I met in Chile in the afternoon. We talked about what is happening in our lives. She is working for the Government as a consultant. She said so much money was wasted on writing a brief, to find out it hadn’t been approved higher up. She was reflecting on the waste of money and the wider world out there doesn’t care about wording. The beauty of bureacracy. Much focus on process or project managment, but not much on content. She is a content person and very talented writer, she actually wants to serve the public. She wants to work with the non profit sector, she said it is hard to convince people that non-profit is non-profit. So much commercial thinking these days, or corporate mind-sets unable to conceptualise wanting to serve society. We have discussed often women have a desire to serve not for money but for love. I don’t want to exclude men here there are some great men who feel the same. So apologies if sometimes I sound a bit onesided, I am a woman and I will be writing from this perspective, just note I do have a deep respect for men. The prevailing idea here is the focus predominantly is on generating of money, even non-profits have to generate revenue to justify their existence, even if that is a grant stream. This is a mindset that doesn’t understand philanthropy. It is the way of the world. This lady I am speaking to is middle management and very intelligent. She takes great pride in doing things well, to find that no-one really cares. So she is in a quandry of what to do and where to go in the future. I am speaking to her about the Law of Attraction. I am going to work on this with my own visions. In the past it has worked for me. So now I will focus consciously. I said next time I will take her through some exercises to get clear on what she wants. Had a nice wine and came on home.

What I love about life is the variety of people you meet, the different head spaces you end up in. I love not judging or if you do, reassessing and allowing yourself to open your heart to other people. I love to be wrong about my judgements. We are the ones who lose when we walk past and say nothing, everyone is rich with experience. There is so much wisdom and diversity all around us that is so interesting. I never am bored and really love to learn from others and embrace differences. I could have divided from that guy on refugee policy or attitudes to single women, but I chose to speak my truth and allow him his opinion, this is democracy. He was a lovely guy, he wasn’t questioning his thoughts, but it was hurting him ultimately. to find happiness, is to allow life and to question yourself to let others off the hook and to allow life to be what it is. I am practicing this at the moment and it is working.

Remember the law of attraction monitor your thoughts, go for what feels good and envisage what you want to see happening. I am looking for the perfect place to live a job that gives me an opportunity to work for peace or to meditate full-time and live for free. The latter has been offered for me. So I will wait to see how life unfolds and be grateful for whatever comes. It is all good.

Have a great day and keep smiling.