Talking about a current project that is very close to our hearts and an integral part of who we are becoming, I was asked to explain how we decided to participate in such a project.
It was a question that left me thinking as I did not really know how to respond to a question to which I simply had no answer.
While reflecting on it, an anecdote came to mind from a Sunday lunch back in January of 1995.
We were at my mother’s for a family Sunday lunch with the grandparents, uncles and cousins. Not all of them were there, but we were indeed a large group.
I do not remember why it occurred to me that it was a good occasion to announce our marriage. I do not remember planning for it and with our announcement, I recall having managed to surprise everyone.
One of my uncles approached me, looking me intensely in the eyes and asked:
Did you think about it?
I was expecting that he would just share some kind words and congratulate us, followed by a traditional Mexican hug and we would get over with it, but he did not, and he caught me by surprise with his question.
The arrogance in me, felt that the question was a threat to my intelligence, and my ability to make such an important decision. I was feeling offended, and perplexed by such a daring question. I also had to be cautious to hide any signs of insecurity and I certainly was not willing to listen to the whole litany of "reasons" why we should consider this very well, again.
We were just having the courtesy of communicating our decision to them. Did he not understand that this was a decision we had already made? Did he not get it that if we had decided to get married, we obviously had thought about it?
In a fraction of a second that seemed like an eternity, while I was thinking how to respond to his disturbing question, I felt how my blood was about to boil and I was refraining from exploding as I frequently did in those times. I was anticipating the exasperation of having to give any kind of explanation on our decision, I do not enjoy having to give any kind of explanation to anyone about anything in my life.
Before responding to something I might have regretted, he took me by the shoulder and said to me with a mischievous smile, raising one of his furry eyebrows, while staring to me with his profound and deep dark eyes:
Well done, this is one of those decisions you must take without thinking about it.
That anecdote has remained with, and time has taken care of giving it a profound meaning, the more time goes by, the more sense it makes.
My initial reaction was feeling offended when questioned for a decision that my rational mind obviously believed it had thought through; however, I was clearly missing the point, as the decision we had made was something that did not come from a rational mind, we were just letting things unfold naturally.
I now understand that the most important decisions I have made in my life simply happened because they were supposed to happen. I flowed with them and let them guide me, as they were and came from beyond my own self.
I am a mere instrument that has enjoyed the benefits that each and everyone of those decisions has brought to me, but it was not my mind that thought about them nor brought them to me, they have all been gifts and it happens that I have been blessed with numerous gifts.
Our minds might make us think they were the ones that thought about it, but our minds are not designed to make such decisions, they are great executing, and I am grateful for my mind to have helped me execute so many decisions masterfully. We must distinguish between believing in something and creating it, from following the flow of life and deciding whether or not we will be dancing to the tune that is being played for us to dance.
When we need to decide something relevant, the best I have done is listen and follow my heart, it knows better.
Our hearts always know our way back home.
Perhaps we do not like to hear what they have to tell us, perhaps we are not quiet enough to listen to what they have to say, perhaps we decide not to follow them, perhaps we let our mind decide and follow their command obeying what they want us to do as we have been told to. That is our choice.
Are you following your mind or your heart?
Did you think about it?
We always have a choice and it is always us that have the ultimate power to decide who we will listen to, and who we will follow.
I believe it and so it is/
Yo lo Creo
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