I’m unsure how to start this post. I guess I should start by saying I only got 3.5hrs of sleep last night. Normally this would be a bad thing, but in this case it was a good thing. I can’t help but feel excited this morning because of it, even though I might be suffering at work a little. So here is how yesterday went and how I found an Anam Cara (I really like that word!)
As per my usual, work was total chaos! And after not sleeping well the past few nights I was definitely feeling the burn. When I get high stressed I find it hard to eat so my eating habits had been sub-par to say the least and I wasn’t feeling too great, but I had a bunch of previous commitments and I felt bad canceling. So I forced myself to push through all the stress and anxiety. After work I went to my friend’s son’s 1 year birthday party! Which was so much fun and seriously, he is SUCH a cutie!! But that is beside the point. I was supposed to go to this housewarming party after the birthday party but I really wasn’t feeling up to it. I battled with myself for a little while humming and hawing, telling myself I was tired, I hadn’t eaten all day, it was all the way in Cloverdale, I didn’t even know anybody, how was I going to make conversation; all these arguments with myself about how I didn’t want to go, which boiled down to, I was feeling nervous and anxious and I wanted to go hide in my bubble at home and play guitar and go to sleep.
I didn’t do that. I forced myself to go. I stopped at my parents place on the way for some moral support, which I got from my brother who was home and went on my way (it was right around the corner from their house). I nervously walked up to the door and rang the bell, wondering if I had made the right decision in coming. All my doubts disappeared when I walked up the stairs and saw the look on my co-workers face, and thus started the night I found a kindred spirit. I’ve been thinking of it a lot because I thought the word kindred spirit was appropriate at the time but wasn’t sure exactly what it meant so I did some Google searching and was pleasantly surprised. www.dictionary.com defines a kindred spirit as,
As per my usual, work was total chaos! And after not sleeping well the past few nights I was definitely feeling the burn. When I get high stressed I find it hard to eat so my eating habits had been sub-par to say the least and I wasn’t feeling too great, but I had a bunch of previous commitments and I felt bad canceling. So I forced myself to push through all the stress and anxiety. After work I went to my friend’s son’s 1 year birthday party! Which was so much fun and seriously, he is SUCH a cutie!! But that is beside the point. I was supposed to go to this housewarming party after the birthday party but I really wasn’t feeling up to it. I battled with myself for a little while humming and hawing, telling myself I was tired, I hadn’t eaten all day, it was all the way in Cloverdale, I didn’t even know anybody, how was I going to make conversation; all these arguments with myself about how I didn’t want to go, which boiled down to, I was feeling nervous and anxious and I wanted to go hide in my bubble at home and play guitar and go to sleep.
I didn’t do that. I forced myself to go. I stopped at my parents place on the way for some moral support, which I got from my brother who was home and went on my way (it was right around the corner from their house). I nervously walked up to the door and rang the bell, wondering if I had made the right decision in coming. All my doubts disappeared when I walked up the stairs and saw the look on my co-workers face, and thus started the night I found a kindred spirit. I’ve been thinking of it a lot because I thought the word kindred spirit was appropriate at the time but wasn’t sure exactly what it meant so I did some Google searching and was pleasantly surprised. www.dictionary.com defines a kindred spirit as,
“a person who shares beliefs, attitudes, feelings, or features with another; also called kindred soul”
Although I had to agree with this definition, I felt like it was lacking in the way I felt during our conversations last night, so I went on Yahoo answers and found this definition,
“Some one you feel connected to but they aren't your soul mate”
I was really intrigued by this answer because it takes the connection beyond the physical attributes and gives it a metaphysical meaning. But I wanted to know more still, so as I was perusing I found this website (link) and my search ended. This was the definition I had been searching for,
“Kindred spirits are people that you connect with on a deeper level than just basic intellectual and emotional interaction. They are one who you have a unique spiritual connection with. That feeling that somehow you must have known them in a previous life and you've finally reunited.”
No matter what though, it was an awesome time, and I was able to mingle and talk with complete strangers. I grew. I’m going to leave you with a final quote that I really loved, and where I got the Anam Cara word from. When I read it there is only one person I think of, I have known her for 17 of my 25 year lifespan and I hope everyone can experience a friendship like this at some point in their life.
“The Celtic understanding of friendship found its inspiration and culmination in the sublime notion of the anam cara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul; cara is the word for friend. So anam cara means soul friend. The anam cara is a person to whom you can reveal the hidden intimacies of your life. This friendship is an act of recognition. When you have an anam cara, your friendship cut across all convention and category. You are joined in an ancient and eternal way with the friend of your soul. Central here is the recognition and awakening of the ancient belong-ing between two friends. Since the human heart is never completely born, love is the continuous birth of creativity within and between us.
The anam cara experience opens a friendship that is not wounded or limited by separation or distance. Such friendship can remain alive even when the friends live far away from each other. Because they have broken through the barriers of persona and egoism to the soul level, the unity of their souls is not easily severed. When the soul is awakened, physical space is transfigured. Even across the distance two friends can stay attuned to each other and continue to sense the flow of each other's lives. With your anam cara you awaken the eternal. In this soul-space there is no distance.”
Take Care,
A.
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