Lesson 4 of A Year of Writing to Uncover the Authentic Self course with Rachel Astor via DailyOM on the topic of “Contribution” ponders “so often we can feel overwhelmed in the face of all the problems in today’s world. One minute with the news or on social media can be disheartening, seeming like it’s impossible for you, as just one person, to make a difference. But oftentimes that feeling is because we want to start too big. We try to imagine ways to “fix” the entire problem instead of first looking for ways we can do small things, and perhaps already do in our everyday lives. Perhaps without even knowing it, we have all already contributed throughout our entire lives”.
While I was musing, a near-encounter with a raindrop-sparkling spiderweb suffused my thoughts with words that formed a haiku…
Magical fluxion.
Filaments string together
human connection.
Coming back to it later I thought oh, I must have confused contribution and connection. But no, it was a Freudian slip clarified by a couple of Deepak Chopra quotes I found while searching for inspiration… “Each of us is a unique strand in the intricate web of life and here to make a contribution” and “Our consciousness is our contribution to reality. What we perceive as real, becomes real”.
Sometime back in the late 1980’s… during my early –unsettled– twenties, I became aware for the first time -consciously at least- of the presence of Grace in my life. “You are enough, all is as it’s meant to be” was the quiet message, and my soul remembered.
The first breath we take signals the beginning of our soul-human contract whereby we become part of life’s intertwined labyrinth of contribution… beginning with the role of child to our parents.
Is it my place to extol the contribution I’ve made to others?
I doubt the young man who contributed a moment of kind smiling eye contact to a stranger as we crossed paths on a street more than thirty years ago has given it a second thought. For me, it was happenchance that left an indelible mark, and gave me the confidence to resist making a pressured choice I would’ve regretted. Or, maybe he has never ceased to wonder why the woman he passed looked so sad.
“So you never know who you touch. You never know how or when you’ll have an impact, or how your example can be to someone else” ¬ Denzel Washington, A Hand to Guide Me
This story was bought to you by the letter R. For #dancingintheRain. In the form of “A trough off the New South Wales coast is generating widespread and persistent rain in the region.” ~ Bureau of Meteorology, which is causing widespread flooding. We’re inundated but -at least- elevated… no risk of our house flooding and we’ve enough supplies to get us through as we’ll be in situ for a while yet while this weather system plays out… local roads under water and rivers over bridges.
daleleelife101.blog 
Your post is fabulous
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Very kind. Thank you.
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Pleasure is all mine 😀
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How beautiful and green, and what riches of water. Stay safe, and dry, and well fed, and comfortable, content in your cut-offness! We have the merest infant of a low pressure system hovering over us, sending small but persistent waves of rain, interspersed with quite horrible humidity when the sun comes out. The grass is growing before our naked eyes…
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Green it is. And wet. Very. But all is well.
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over deluge of rain isn’t always welcome, but as long as it’s not attracted to come inside your home, I guess as you’ve mentioned you’ve got in enough supplies. There have been whole days here in my little patch of paradise where I’ve not even noticed what the weather is doing, but often in early afternoon, I’m finding it’s actually quite hot, like in summer hot. It’s Autumn here now, but I’ve not seen much evidence on some of my short outings of “falling leaves”
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I’ve been so looking forward to the sort of autumn weather you describe. Hopefully it’s patiently waiting its turn behind the wet weather which is taking its time to move along.
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Your photographs made me smile. Similar scenes at our place. Many birds are taking up residence on our verandahs as the trees are so water-soaked too.
I love your rain-dancing boots. No shoes or boots outside our back door at present. Only a row of Wellington boots of various colours and sizes. My navy blue with pink spots are too big and squelch loudly as I cross the house- paddock to the mail-box. Our neighbours look up and wave.
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Your comment made me smile! Our washing has been hanging on the verandah since Thursday… do not want any birds near it. My mother-in-law made the mistake of hanging hers in the carport where the birds were sheltering… My wellies are plain black and have been put to use several times in the last few days, particularly to the chook pen. But the old work boots are serviceable and waterproof. I made the mistake of wearing thongs yesterday morning to go for a quick look out the back. Oops. Pink polka dot boots sound fabulous. Take care.
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Must have started raining some time last night because I woke to it this morning [Melbourne]. So far, the rain is a gentle thing and very welcome. From what I saw on the news last night, yours is anything but. Glad your house is in no danger of flooding.
I have to say your story about that young man resonates with me too. I would have been in my early thirties and somewhere in the Melbourne CBD when a very young, very scruffy man opened one of those big, heavy doors to the outside of an office building… and /held it open/ for me.
Such a small thing, but it hammered home the old saying about never judging a book by its cover, or in this case, a young person by his appearance.
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The best life lessons aren’t complicated or painful, those which are meaningful resonate long after the moment.
I hope your rainy weather stays calm, pleasant and just long enough. Same same here… still. But we’re fortunate, our house is dry and safe. My heart goes out to those people and animals which have been badly affected.
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Yes, I fear we’ve gone past the point where we can live/build wherever we want and expect technology to keep us safe. We’re all going to need higher ground for floods, and bushfire mitigation for the flames.
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The idea of never knowing who you may touch or how you may effect them has been something I have known about since my early 20’s. I’m sure I haven’t always made a good fist of it but I have tried. It is one of the driving forces behind continuing to write my blog. This is a really lovely post, Dale, and a very nice, timely reminder of one of life’s most important aspects…our fellow human beings, friends, family and strangers alike because you just never know… Enjoy the rain! xx
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I’m pleased you understand. Thank you once again for kind words, and kindred spirit. I could have written a long piece about my perceived contributions but that imo wouldn’t have been pertinent… or of interest, even to me [I’m still recovering from the Work lesson].
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