This morning, I began the day with a meditation on top of a hill with a beautiful sister of light. We came back in to awareness and began to share our experiences, when voice called out, “Were you praying?” We turned to look, and a middle aged African American man was gently ambling his way towards us. I replied, “We were meditating.” to which he made appreciative noises and nodded. He put his head down and started to walk away, when something inside me made me call out, “Would you like to join us?” He stopped dead in his tracks and then his whole face lit up and he began to come towards us, saying, “Well, yes, I would!” He started to warn us that he had a lot of tattoos and it might be scary to us, but we welcomed him with a wave of the hand. He indeed had many tattoos, and presented quite a “scary” persona, if you wanted to see it that way. I have been working on talking to more people, especially those who no one else seems to want to talk to. It has been a very eye opening experience, and this was to be the most intense yet. He gave us each a fist bump and began to tell us that he was a martial arts instructor, and I asked to see some of his “moves”, which he happily obliged. He then shared that he had been abandoned on the street when he was a baby, and had been adopted by a Hispanic couple, who raised him as their own. he had been involved in gangs for many years, as well, until he found Spirit.

This stopped me dead in my tracks: he found Spirit? The fact that he showed up right after a very powerful meditation tells me that he is a high vibrational being. He definitely challenged my beliefs, and I found myself being amused by the fact that he seemed to have shifted into Evangelical mode, and he continually ended threads of thought with “Can I get an Amen?” It briefly occurred to me that he might be channeling my grandfather, who was an Evangelical Minister, and we were sitting on the hill above the church he attended.

Suddenly, his eyes glazed over and I strained hard to look under the bill of his cap; were they WHITE?? I dismissed it as “the glare” and continued listening, but then he told a story that Spirit had taken away his sight for a year, and they went white again, this time there was no mistaking it! He then turned to my companion, and said, “I have a message for you”, and his voice changed, then he delivered the message. I do not know what he said, even though I was sitting right there; it was not a message for me, and I simply held space while she received it. Afterwards, she shed tears of utter and complete joy, as her heart was filled with gratitude for his message.

I felt that it was time for us to leave, and so I used a separation rose between us, and he immediately stood and said, “I will be going now.” We nodded, and thanked him for the blessing of his presence, and he looked right at me, as our eyes met, he said, “You know what you’re doing, don’t you?” I nodded, speechless, as he then turned and walked away.

My friend turned to me and said, “Did you see his EYES???” And of course I nodded, and we compared notes, filling in the blanks with each other’s perception. And all of this happened because I was able to overcome my fear of talking to scary looking men! The old me would have been totally afraid and shunned him; how many of these angels are out there, in disguise? And it begs the further question: How many people have I misjudged, and dismissed, because of their outer appearance?

As I process this experience, I am struck by the fact that, in a any given day, you can choose how to approach life. You can wake up and turn on the news, or scroll through your social media, or you can begin with mindful practices, such as yoga and meditation. I have been bookending my days with these practices, and it has propelled me into a rapid period of spiritual growth. I am seeing events and people that I never knew existed, coming into my awareness, and just blowing my mind. I feel such gratitude for this path, and I stay present and mindful throughout the day. When I see a “scary looking” man, is that my program, or am I really seeing his energy? Judging by today’s experience, I would say it is a program, which then allows me to mindfully step out of it and choose something else.

Creating a mindful existence requires you to face your pain, and admit that you have no idea what you are doing. Once you can surrender your Ego, that is when the magic starts to happen!