My 60th Birthday: Coincidence or Cosmic Plan?
Here I am the week of my 60th birth day dismantling my whole life and moving all my Earthly belongings (mostly books, manuscripts, journals, photographs, yoga props and daily-life essentials like kitchenware, towels and bedding), into an 8 x 8 x 12' PODS container. It feels like some kind of rite of passage or initiation. A 60th birthday cleanse!
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I 've lived in this house since 1995 and now I am up to my eyeballs moving... packing... cleaning... recycling... donating... and throwing away items that have reached the end of their cycle of usefulness. All the clothes I have not worn for years are hanging on a portable rack. My sisters, my daughter, my women friends... are not allowed to leave the house without taking something and the rest is going to the SPAN (spay and neuter) Thrift Shop.
(Second Helpings on Fox Street got all my extra dishes and the first wave of give-aways...)
For someone who does not have any stuff, I sure have a lot of stuff! It's like that movie, "The Story of Stuff." It's the stuff of all the stages of my life, stuff I need to let go of... And the Universe is giving me a big jolt to help me let go....
What is amazing is that almost everytime that I put something out on the street next to the dumpster (or in my driveway) as a "give-away," it disappears! Last night a man was walking his dog by my house just as I was wheeling out the recycling bin. He thanked me for the bike basket I had put by the curb earlier that day. When he told me that he rehabilitates bicycles, I knew I'd found the perfect home for the three old bikes I've never gotten around to fixing.
I just have to remember to leave room for the very last thing--my bed.
Now is the time to remember that Everything Changes. Nothing is Permanent. And each day brings us one moment closer to Maha Samadhi.
Next free moment I will tell the story behind this move... and what is happening with my animals... but now I must get moving...
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Comments (12)
Happy birthday, Suza!
And I'd love to hear the story on the move...
All the best,
Leigh
Comment #1 Posted by: Leigh | May 28, 2009 10:58 AM
Thanks, Leigh!
The SPAN Thrift Shop people just picked up an old four-drawer legal size filing cabinet (that someone gave me about ten years ago), a stack of framed paintings (including one by renown Ojai artist Gayle Childress that I inherited from a friend)and bags of clothes, sheets, etc., mostly given to me by friends but which I no longer need. And an armful of old purses, going back to my hippy days. And birkenstocks that maybe should have gone into the dumpster.
The hardest thing to send off to the unknown? My "mayor suits," two lovely, classy, expensive suits from Barbara Bowmans, one black, one maroon, with a long sleeved white blouse that I wore faithfully to almost every official event...
(I wasn't sad to let the suits go...just couldn't find an Ojai woman who needed a suit that "excudes power, prestige and classic refinement...")
Comment #2 Posted by: Suza | May 28, 2009 11:58 AM
Happy Happy Birthday, Suza!
Comment #3 Posted by: Tyler | May 28, 2009 06:36 PM
Thanks for writing, I very much liked reading your most recent post. I think you should post more frequently, you clearly have talent for blogging!
Comment #4 Posted by: My Amazing Weight Loss Story | May 28, 2009 06:51 PM
Suza, that's the very best spam comment I've ever seen!
:-)
Leigh
Comment #5 Posted by: Leigh | May 28, 2009 09:30 PM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Suza! and Happy move! I can't wait to read more of your story. I am already inspired.
Comment #6 Posted by: DK | May 28, 2009 11:57 PM
Happy Happy Birthday Suza! Did you happen to get a way to contact the bike guy? I have a couple of wonderful bikes that need a new home.
Comment #7 Posted by: shangrilalife | May 29, 2009 09:40 AM
Thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes!
shangrilalife, I did't get the bike guy's number but if I see him walking his dog again, I will ask.
Oh wait--he said he was a writer/musician and plays at Farmer & Cook... I think he said his name was Dan Carington...alas, when I googled that name too many to look up...he told me his web site but now I can't remember...
I'm hoping someone reading this will let us know where's the place to take old bikes these days...
Comment #8 Posted by: Suza | May 29, 2009 10:33 AM
Happy Birthday, Suza! To answer your question -- coincidence or cosmic plan? -- according to my understanding of Carl Jung in his introduction to the I Ching, the two are not mutually exclusive. He defines "coincidence" simply as two events happening at the same time, not necessarily by random chance. You can choose a worldview that includes all events in the Cosmic Plan. To be sure, some coincidences seem more "cosmic" or serendipitous than others but I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder.
Comment #9 Posted by: Lanny | May 29, 2009 12:15 PM
Thank you, Lanny, for your illuminating reply...which ofcourse raises many interesting questions...
Good to be reminded of the cosmic view after cleaning the grease and grime under the fridge...the black widows are wondering what is happening to their happy home...
All dark places are being exposed to the light, so as not to bring any hidden creatures to my new abode...
Comment #10 Posted by: Suza | May 29, 2009 03:00 PM
In spite of my best efforts to explain to AT&T that I wanted my service changed on Monday, June 1st, midday Friday my internet service vanished and shortly thereafter the phone went dead...
There was not enough vertical clearance at my new diggs for the PODS container (without some serious tree trimming) at my new location so I hired a very reliable, highly recommended strong worker to move everything the old-fashioned way (in a truck), on Saturday... He rescheduled for later in the day and then never showed up...
I do trust that everything will unfold as it should...eventually...
Comment #11 Posted by: I give up | May 30, 2009 08:43 PM
Happy Birthday, Suza!
Comment #12 Posted by: Sally | June 2, 2009 07:10 PM