My friend Wesley out on Vashon Island stands at the street corner from time to time, holding a fuzzy puppet and doing her best to get people to laugh. She passes out a sticker which says: "Don't Take this Person Seriously."
"Put this in your mirror," she tells people. "That way, everyone who comes to your house will see it."
The cars toot by. Many people notice Wesley. Wesley bikes everywhere and runs a laugh club. She does everything for free, but still, people come forward wanting to donate to her work. It's like that with great work, I've heard: when you're doing great work, money follows you, Byron Katie said.
Why do we realize some dreams, and never realize others? Wesley has a theory: "We don't realize dreams because there's an old belief out there that life is hard." She begins to think, and the following statement flows from her: "I've begun to believe that we started to believe life was hard when we began accumulating so many possessions."
Life on Vashon provides many, many chances for bit philosophizing.
For myself, I challenged myself this morning to make a dream come true and I ended up swimming in Puget Sound this morning to honor Mother's Day. A dream, realized. Did it matter that I noticed how afraid I'm behaving as I get to know the ocean's currents again? Well, I didn't look very athletic in the beginning, but after a bit of swimming, I was ready to breathe more deeply and with greater trust and confidence, and soon I felt as much dolphin as timid land-loving human.
What a dream, to arise on such a beautiful morning and to notice that everyone is celebrating mothers. Happy Mother's Day, all.
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