The first entry of A Mystic's Journal by Laurie Conrad, author of "The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants", a collection of true stories. Her new books, "Realms of Light" and "Meetings with Angels and Other Divine Beings" are scheduled to be published in 2005.
January 23, 2005
JF came by & we went shopping. Went to the dollar store uptown, to buy a lock for the upstairs middle room - so that Ian won’t tumble down the stairs when they stay overnight. A fairly sad scene at the checkout counter. An attractive, plump young girl at the register, & the woman in front of me very thin & small, wearing a sort of ragged, beige trench coat - her hair was dyed a terrible red/brown & the back was in strands, clumps, as though she had forgotten to brush there ... I was feeling a little faint - it was my first excursion out in quite a while - so I wasn’t really paying attention, but the line was taking so long I began to listen. The little woman ahead of me was foreign, although I couldn’t place the accent. She partially turned towards me at one point & I could see that her features were rather pointed - in fact she was so thin her entire body was pointed, a summation of various angles all strung together. She had bought a plain, medium-sized mirror, & was asking the clerk if she had a bigger bag to put it in. The girl said no & tried again (unsuccessfully) to stuff the mirror in the small plastic bag. The woman asked again & the girl again said "no", this time not very nicely. In was a series of the same question & the same answer ... Finally the sad, thin little woman left, clutching the bag & the mirror. I was next, & as the attractive plump young girl rang up my order, the older woman in back of me began talking with her. They were obviously friends, & they were making fun of the thin little foreign woman. They began to laugh. I left the store feeling as though my initial venture out into the world had not been the experience I had hoped for.
I met JF at a nearby shop, as arranged - & she asked me why I cared so much, about the little woman & the scene at the dollar store. I had no real answer. I had been mainly alone with God & my music & the cats & indoor plants for some weeks, fairly sick with a flu - & now I was again out in the world. I had hoped for continuity & had found none. Usually when in the world, I bring my own little island of Divine Love with me, & today, being out of practice - I had forgotten. I forgot to send angels ahead, I forgot to send everyone Love & Healing - & the events were perhaps the answer to my forgetfulness. The world was not meant to make thin sad little foreign women more sad & confused. This is not what God wishes ... Nor are older friends supposed to encourage young plump girls to treat others without Compassion. No, I forgot to send them all Love & Healing as well as the situation ... So I also contributed. That should have
been my answer to JF, although at the time I could not find the words. We should all see ourselves in that mirror, half-wrapped in the cheap plastic bag - or better yet, Christ.
Because we have an opportunity to choose our attitude and focus our intentions in the present moment, the world and our own personal lives are a reflection of our thoughts. It is our 360 degree review on how we think. Put simply, our job is to fully
