I keep a tattered copy of Cannery Row on my desk, a missing cover and shabby back page. I’ve read and reread it more times than I can remember. A frog croaking instantly transports me back to Monterey Bay and the soft sweet grass of Mack’s frog pool square. I always remember this sentence: ‘’Doc would listen to any kind of nonsense and change it for you to a kind of wisdom.” (something we could use today).
Do you have old books on your shelf or your Kindle, iPad, iPhone?
I keep things. Particularly books. Marie Kondo I’m not.
We all have books we’ll never get rid of because (someday) we’ll reread them. Or need as a reference — at some point — in the future. You know you just need to keep that book, even if it is not cracked open for decades. It’s there as a reminder of things past and yes, things future. Sometimes those books show up, either falling off the shelf or move to the top of your Kindle.
The poet Edgar Guest wrote
“Good books are friendly things to own.
If you are busy they will wait.”
Many years ago I was given a copy of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. 222 pages of stories, quotes, tasks, and questions to rekindle creativity. For many years It’s been on my ‘must re-read’ list.
Three weeks ago that book actually fell off the shelf and landed next to my foot. I picked it up and put it back, and said out loud ‘’stay’’, as if lecturing a dog. I wanted to open it but not at that moment. I wrote a reminder on a bright pink sticky note and placed it above my desktop. The pink note joined many others on the wall, but it kept fluttering off and I kept re-sticking it.
I finally took the book off the shelf and flipped through the pages. I read quotes that now had new meanings, a story which jarred my memory, an exercise triggered a new question for me.
We see things when we’re not looking. They always appear, but many times we ignore the signs around us to pay attention. Was that accidental fall really accidental? Why that particular book and why now?
The synchronicity of life. As Einstein said, ‘God does not play dice with the universe.’ There is an order. You think of someone. They call. You share a story about an old colleague whom you haven’t seen in months. A text somehow magically appears.
If we all rush ahead, thinking about what’s next rather than what’s in front of us, adding more to our ‘to-do’ list rather than subtracting most of it, we’ll miss those necessary coincidences. Which may not be a coincidence at all.
Covid-19 is a pause in the chapters of our lives — and is a good thing. Few of us can rush, but almost all of us can slow the pace a notch. And in slowing down, we see more. Books are magical things. Invite them in and let them stay.
Is it possible to view your life as a book?
What would the title be?
As you browse through the chapters, would you recognize the peaks and valleys and recall the unpredictable parts?
Do those stories, those memories, events, all unique to you, rekindle any of those creative juices?
Try to spend a few moments re-reading the chapters of your life — slowly and caringly.
Synchronicity appears in silence. As you read through the story of your life, you’re in the middle of something that’s about to change.A series of seemingly unrelated events can actually be tethered and quite meaningful. I’ve learned from Steinbeck, Julia Cameron and many poets to let the story take you where you need to go.
There is an order if you listen long enough.
