XVII

My wife asked to go in front of me since she was getting really tired of standing and starting to sweat quite profusely. She was directed to a couch where she sat down and took off her socks and shoes. A couple minutes later, I was "shown the way" to where my reading would be given. It was right next to where my wife was. Turned out, though, that the lady who was supposed to do me needed to take a break. I was like, "Here I sit broken hearted, wanted a reading, but couldn't get it started". This other lady who was kinda supervising said she could fill in. She was nice looking and I was eager to hear what she had to tell me.

My wife and I had different strategies as to how we approached our readings. She was just gonna pelt the toe reader with question after question while I didn't plan to ask anything, just listen. It was somewhat difficult to hear what my reader had to say from time to time as I was sitting right next to a faux water wall (at least I think it was faux). Herewith are the five main things she revealed to me:

Firstly, after taking a good look at my feet, she said that I am quite "balanced". Many others, she said, are off kilter, but I "walk the walk and talk the talk".

Secondly, she mentioned estrangement in regards to my family. I mentioned that most of them are Jehovah's Witnesses while I am not. She said that they're caught up in a belief system that doesn't really allow them to explore, to look into the deeper facets of life and that though they feel I am a "lost" soul, they still love and respect me.

Thirdly, she said that I should try to say what I'm feeling more readily instead of obsessing over what I want to say and how I'm going to do so. This was quite accurate. Many times I rehearse how I'm going to say something to someone in my mind when by rights, I should just speak my truth.

Next, that even though I need to open up more, I should also spend more time looking inward, that I should try to meditate a minute or two longer each day. Though I consider myself a spiritual person, fact is, I don't meditate much. I'll try for a few minutes, but then get frustrated when thoughts of how sexy I am intrude. This lady helped convince me that I should try a bit harder (or actually not try, but just be as I breathe deeply and concentrate only on my breath).

Finally, she saw a vision of me in orange Buddhist robes on a mountaintop. I had already been fed and was looking out over the countryside, extremely content. I do believe in past lives, so wouldn't be at all surprised if I was a monk. I crave either quiet or music. I couldn't stand living with my three younger brothers as a teen because they were so noisy and ended up moving in with my mom. Present day, I often walk around the house with earplugs so that I'm not bothered by external noise (I always sleep with them on), noise which will disturb my peaceful state of mind.

In addition, I never watch TV in the morning. Not only are the constant commercials a pain, but listening to distressing news just after waking (unless it's to announce that Obama has been elected President) doesn't make much sense to me. This is also why I don't listen to the radio in my car (I recently got a 2005 Hyundai and one of the first things I did was remove the antenna). I don't drive in silence, though. I always have a few CD's with me wherever I go and I've plenty to choose from (more than 500 at last count). I also seem to get more enjoyment out of music than others. I can't understand why people would want to be yakking on their cell phone while driving when there is so much good music that can get your day off to a nice, relaxing start. In the 90's, I bought a Buddhist meditation cassette and found it quite calming. Damn, I'm really rambling here, aren't I?

As the reading came to a close, the lady clasped her hands together and bowed her head. I did the same to her. My reading left me with much to ponder. Had I really been a Buddhist monk? Am I really more "balanced" than most? If they can get this kind of info from my feet, what could they find out by looking at other areas of my body? My wife was still asking questions of her reader, so I headed off to the lounge to sit for a spell while the lady who did mine put some sort of disinfectant thing on her hands. I kinda laid on my side on this plush recliner.

Since it was almost 3, people were starting to get out of the conferences that started at 1:30. I carefully looked at the people as they went by. Some familiar from the prior two days, others new to me. I was reminded of something that Neale had said earlier in the day. We were asked how many of us believed that it was possible to have a personal conversation with God. Most of the hands went up. Neale said that was good, that this isn't generally the case in society at large. He said if you went to downtown Chicago, the percentage of people who would agree with that statement would be much lower. I realized then how much I was going to miss the energy I had been receiving these past 48 hours.

You know how when you're in an elevator, no one usually talks to you unless they know who you are. Well, at the conference, there were numerous times when a woman would say, "Hi, how are you doing?" to my wife and I (I found out later that one of them had come to the conference all the way from Israel). It wasn't going to be easy going back to my everyday life. I suppose it's a bit like going to heaven and being told, "It's not your time yet". *sigh*