So I had lunch today at my old friend’s restaurant, Carmen’s Lunch Bar. It’s a lovely spot in lovely downtown Pensacola. I just had this really strong urge for the chicken tikka masala (which is amazing, by the way). It was just so interesting how random and strong this urge was. And clear, crystal clear – it just popped in my head. I go places by myself and sit at the bar all the time, but I’ve always gone to her restaurant with one or more other people (even though it’s a lunch bar and everyone’s friendly, so that’s the point!). So my mind jumped in and thought about how good the grouper nuggets at Peg Leg’s on the beach would be. Mouth watering, to be exact – it’s one of my favorite dishes in town. So I thought about going there. And I’m in my car. And I start heading in that direction. I only got a couple blocks away, though, and that strong feeling came back in. So without thinking, I followed the feeling and turned in the other direction, heading for Carmen’s. Trust the feeling and just go. Take The Flow with you. Because it lives inside of you. All the time.
I pulled up and got the best parking spot, right away. A spot that is usually taken. Ha, I thought. I walk in, and there’s a friend from my earliest childhood. Ha, again. The magic is officially rolling. He was one of my older brother’s best friends, so they’d playfully beat me up. And I loved it. He’s sitting at the bar with a couple of others, and the seat next to him was open. So I sat down and we talked the whole time. Great guy, great catching up. And then he asked about what I do, which people who know me do all the time. And he brought up a healer in town that his mom had known very well and that I had studied with a while back. And this led to a conversation about some of the deeper questions, including the “other side” after we die and my take on that. It was an awesome conversation, and he was leading it with his questions. And I could tell that I was not the normal person he talked about this with and that it was a beneficial conversation for him, along with a fun one for me. And then he paid for my lunch!
Are you seeing where this is going? That strange but very clear urge to have the chicken tikka masala at Carmen’s? I could taste it! And I had not had that urge before, not once. I’ll have to put Carmen’s more in the lunch rotation, though. To be honest, I get sandwiches a lot from sandwich places and don’t dine in, but her place is quick and awesome. So there you go.
So we leave, and I see another friend as we’re walking out. I hadn’t seen her in a while, so I stopped to chat. I told her about the cool event that happened with the feeling and all of that, and it turns out that what my friend and I had talked about at lunch was what she was looking for as well! I gave her the contact information for this particular person, and who knows where that will lead. Then she told me that the paint had just dried on her divorce, which I knew nothing of, so I was able to give her a few quick words about jumping in and thriving in the next chapter of her life. And this was no BS, no obligation because I’m some therapist guy. It was totally natural and authentic. I had no idea what went down or how she felt about it, but I wanted be sure she was cool (because what’s done is done so might as well embrace it and move on). So I got that off my chest, and you never know if those words make a difference or not. Even if she thought this was the best thing that ever happened, my words just reinforced that. And if she was devastated and in her head about it, she now had a way different take as well as someone to reach out to if necessary.
So there you go, folks. You can see that I’m totally practicing feeling my way through life rather than thinking my way through life. My mind tried to creep in! As I’ve said many times before, I’m a Virgo with two math degrees and tight hamstrings. I know me some living in the head and over-analyzing. Follow the feeling and see where it leads; that’s where the magic is.
P.S. That semicolon is for another one of my friends that I’m really proud of, and I’ll be writing about her soon. In the meantime, anyone that has been affected by suicide can check out Project Semicolon. Peace out!