Remember the Disney movie Dumbo? The little elephant with the big ears learns to fly, with the help of Timothy the mouse and a "magic" feather. Of course, the feather wasn't really magic, Timothy just convinced Dumbo that if he held the feather it would help him fly. When the feather slipped out from Dumbo's trunk, he realized that he could fly all on his own. I've been thinking about Dumbo and his feather quite a lot lately.
When I saw Nithya Shanti a few weeks back, I received what he called a Gratitude Stone. The purpose of the stone is to help you focus on a quality that you want to manifest at that particular time. For a week or so now, I've been carrying my Gratitude Stone around in my pocket. The three qualities I use it to help me focus on are strength, courage, and patience. Whenever I'm feeling a bit uneasy or sad or at all negative, I take notice of the stone in my pocket and I repeat these three qualities to myself over and over until I start to feel better.
The other day, I met a close friend for a quick dinner. I've known this person for quite a long time and have a great deal of love and respect for them. As we were chatting, thoughts of the stone flashed through my mind. And I thought to myself, "Something, something and patience. There were three things! Oh well." I was enjoying the time with my friend, so I didn't want to distract myself by thinking too long of the stone or the qualities. Dinner only lasted an hour, but we had a great time with one another, we talked openly and we laughed a lot (as we usually do when we get together). After I got home that night, I remembered what the other two qualities were: strength and courage.
Then I really started to ponder this "magic feather" that I was carrying around in my pocket. I know that this stone can't manifest the qualities I assign to it. After all, it's just a stone. But I use it as my focal point for when things aren't going quite the way I want them to, or my feelings start to get out of control. Then it hit me: When I was having dinner with my friend, I couldn't remember two of the three qualities because I didn't need to! The stone wasn't my focal point for strength and courage at that time. I didn't need the focal point, because my friend brings out these qualities in me. I had just learned how to fly on my own!
I smile and laugh to myself whenever I take notice of the stone in my pocket. It's a mind trick, and I am fully aware of that. Yet, I carry it in my pocket every day. Strength, courage and patience. Maybe next time I'm having dinner or hanging out with a friend and I can't remember what qualities I assigned my stone, I'll just pick new ones that pertain to that moment. Even a "magic feather" can produce moments of AHA!
:) :)
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