Fujifilm x100f / The Tropical Wild of Urban Honolulu
One afternoon at Waialae Beach Park on the South Shore of Oahu my teacher challenged me with a question as we looked up at the palm trees swaying above.
If you didn’t know the name to these trees, what would you call them? Just tell me the first thing that comes to mind.
First of all, I love palm trees so it’s hard not to think of palm trees as palm trees.
But I had gotten some tattoo work done earlier on a large area of my chest so in between the adrenaline dump exhaustion and the fresh, raw burning feeling of skin, my initial resistance to the exercise led to the first thought that sprung into my mind, which was:
Star Sticks.
Star sticks, you say? Hmmm, I love how you thinking there.
This was not the first time in my Life that someone challenged me to think outside the box. It seems to be a theme and as time has passed and I’ve been able to put my own initial knee-jerk resistance down a bit quicker, whether it’s out of the box or square peg/round hole, I’ve often felt out there.
You not crazy, you know. Words have power you see. And you, you’re truly mad. Be mad like the hatter.
Another time of being challenged to Apple, or Think Different, where someone really challenged my mind was while I worked at Safeway in Hilo.
This one lady, cannot remember her name unfortunately, always seemed to pop up on the most stressful of days and ask for “service out” or help unloading her groceries. As the work felt like the be all, end all, at the time, I’d be abuzz to get it done and if I’m honest, something I’m still working on.
This lady had a more deliberate, mindful way of moving. Where I was at back then, it felt like I didn’t have to time to slow down as she’d patiently talk, perhaps seeing the rush of someone younger, unsure and inexperienced to yet know that the only certainty is uncertainty, and that’s really okay.
For whatever reason, I’d feel better after the chats as this woman would throw something out there that forced me to be present and in the moment as well.
On one such night, she asked me, “If money weren’t an issue, what would you do?”
Ha! Right?!
I scoffed at the notion initially, my resistance at the impossibility of such a prospect. Nevertheless, I went home, jotted that thought down and have continued to think on it, more so, the experiences like them, ever since.
For a long time, I didn’t think this woman was real. I thought she might be a guardian angel until a high school friend, who also worked at Safeway in Hilo and would join us a couple years later at UH on Oahu, and I began to speak about our Safeway experiences and found that we both encountered this really nice, wise woman who’d always seem to show up on stressful days and ask questions.
Alas, I was little bummed because I thought she wasn’t ‘real’ but I suppose this Safeway Saint was the guardian angel over all the young Courtesy Clerks in need.
In hindsight and with twice a lifetime of experience, this was very real.
It’s also a form of confirmation to me, in regard to how I view and experience the world, how that invisible thread isn’t just something to follow. Rather, it shares its Voice in vibrations throughout our lives.
We need only to pause, listen, and reflect.
Or maybe I am just mad like the hatter because I fell down the Rabbit Hole. Either way, I feel so fortunate to have witnessed Soul Much spiritual wow thus far.
You’re on the journey after all…
Guess I’ll just keep buying the popcorn and enjoy the show.