 |
| The Goodwill Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. |
 |
| The Goodwill Bridge |
That was until I read this post on Ailsa Piper's blog -
And speaking of giving…
"I received an email tonight quoting these lines:
You can have the other words – chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity.
I’ll take grace.
I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll take it.
It’s a fragment of Mary Oliver, of course.
Grace and not knowing are two of her specialties.
It made me think that I should remind you again to seek her out, but also it’s an opportunity for you to see her wonderful face."
That was the missing piece of the story I was looking for.
Especially the third definition on the Dictionary.com link
3. favor or goodwill.
Synonyms: kindness, kindliness, love, benignity; condescension.
It wasn't lost on me that Dictionary.com said it was pronounced - greys, either.
The Grey/The Grays and the Triad
 |
| Our Lady of Victories Church in the Brisbane night-sky |
 |
| Writing about Our Lady of Victories - Jessica Watson's boat, The Pink Lady. |
The Pink Lady parked in the shadows of the Goodwill Bridge, just to give you an idea how big/small this boat was that she sailed by herself around the world.
See my post about her here
(which includes Ailsa Piper as well, oddly enough) -
Jessica Watson at the BBWF
" Re:
“You can have the other words – chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity.
I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll take it.”
That is completely true once you see the patterns in this mysterious universe
and realize that there is more than just chance, luck, coincidence going on here .
My experience is that with chance, luck, coincidence and serendipity, it is a form of grace or a manifestation of favor from some guiding source, call it what you will, but it is not for the individual to have as a reward for a good deed done, it is an opportunity for you to use your goodwill to connect with and benefit others through the opportunity you have been given by that source … sort of like a pay it forward type thing.
In other words, you have to stay in a state of flow or grace or goodwill to learn where all these acts of chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity or whatever it is you want to call them are leading you.
and realize that there is more than just chance, luck, coincidence going on here .
My experience is that with chance, luck, coincidence and serendipity, it is a form of grace or a manifestation of favor from some guiding source, call it what you will, but it is not for the individual to have as a reward for a good deed done, it is an opportunity for you to use your goodwill to connect with and benefit others through the opportunity you have been given by that source … sort of like a pay it forward type thing.
In other words, you have to stay in a state of flow or grace or goodwill to learn where all these acts of chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity or whatever it is you want to call them are leading you.
I guess that’s when it becomes grace for an individual, the moment he or
she can be thankful and willing to be led by and look forward to these
“lucky coincidences” that life deals you.
Lenny Kravitz and the Year of the Dragon
Lenny Kravitz and the Year of the Dragon
 |
| Walking to the concert across the Goodwill Bridge |
 |
| Wolfmother at the Riverstage in March |
 |
| The Cranberries - Riverstage |
 |
| Riverstage, Brisbane |
 |
| Lenny Kravitz, Riverstage, Brisbane |
I was walking back over a bridge in Brisbane, after a Lenny Kravitz
concert and feeling this great sense of communion (and no, I wasn’t
drinking or doing drugs;-) and I was pondering all of the fantastic synchronicities that had
occurred to me throughout the past year … some of them mind-bending and
almost numerically impossible to happen and I was thinking what’s the
purpose of synchronicity or serendipity in the life of an individual
like me?
The thought popped into my head from somewhere that the answer I was seeking was under my feet … synchronicity is a connecting principal, a bridge in a way between yourself and the group, it connects lives for some purpose, like a ripple effect which is way too complicated for an individual to see the effects of from where they live their life as one human.
Then I thought, what brings on clusters of synchros like I’ve been witnessing over the past year or so?
The answer was the bridge again, the thought in my head was
“What is the name of this bridge?”
I didn’t really know at the time, but I thought it was called the Goodwill Bridge … and when I checked it out later, it was.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Bridge
So, the answer was to receive them and use them in a state of good will, or with a will to do good and be thankful for the guidance.
In other words, live in a state of grace, or a willing to do good with the opportunities presented to you by chance, luck, or coincidence.
If you get a great idea for a book, movie, play, painting, game, app … whatever, you develop that idea with the aim of helping others down the track … not for the sake of making a $1,000,000 dollars or so.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but your aim should be for the good will of others first, profit second.
That’s how flow or grace works, by getting yourself out of the way and being part of the bigger picture.
It doesn’t mean that you have to be a saint or a doormat for others, because I’m not.
It just means you have to be willing to play your part (and it doesn’t have to be dramatic) to help others.
In other words, your intentions should be to do things to help others, like you would like others to help you.
Just like this post implies by its title “And speaking of giving …”
Why do we give books, films, music to others we care about?
The thought popped into my head from somewhere that the answer I was seeking was under my feet … synchronicity is a connecting principal, a bridge in a way between yourself and the group, it connects lives for some purpose, like a ripple effect which is way too complicated for an individual to see the effects of from where they live their life as one human.
Then I thought, what brings on clusters of synchros like I’ve been witnessing over the past year or so?
The answer was the bridge again, the thought in my head was
“What is the name of this bridge?”
I didn’t really know at the time, but I thought it was called the Goodwill Bridge … and when I checked it out later, it was.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Bridge
So, the answer was to receive them and use them in a state of good will, or with a will to do good and be thankful for the guidance.
In other words, live in a state of grace, or a willing to do good with the opportunities presented to you by chance, luck, or coincidence.
If you get a great idea for a book, movie, play, painting, game, app … whatever, you develop that idea with the aim of helping others down the track … not for the sake of making a $1,000,000 dollars or so.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but your aim should be for the good will of others first, profit second.
That’s how flow or grace works, by getting yourself out of the way and being part of the bigger picture.
It doesn’t mean that you have to be a saint or a doormat for others, because I’m not.
It just means you have to be willing to play your part (and it doesn’t have to be dramatic) to help others.
In other words, your intentions should be to do things to help others, like you would like others to help you.
Just like this post implies by its title “And speaking of giving …”
Why do we give books, films, music to others we care about?
 |
| You owe me one Marc;-) |
Usually, it is because we ourselves have been touched by what we are
giving to the other, so we feel that by giving them this life lesson, we
are helping them in some way.
We are the connection between author and giver.
We may not lead perfect lives, but in that one act as giver we are using good will in the intention of bringing that work into the other person’s life for a benefit to them.
By doing that, you have become a good will bridge … so to speak … between artist and giver and that is living in grace.
To be honest I had to look up exactly what grace meant … I only roughly knew myself before reading this post.
We are the connection between author and giver.
We may not lead perfect lives, but in that one act as giver we are using good will in the intention of bringing that work into the other person’s life for a benefit to them.
By doing that, you have become a good will bridge … so to speak … between artist and giver and that is living in grace.
To be honest I had to look up exactly what grace meant … I only roughly knew myself before reading this post.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grace
That’s when it clicked for me, when I saw this definition -
3. Favor or goodwill. Synonyms: kindness, kindliness, love, benignity; condescension.
So, who ever sent you that e-mail also helped me to solve a little bit more of my puzzle, which in turn may help someone else who reads this comment solve a piece of their puzzle, and so on … that’s the way it seems to work … ripples of grace.
Or maybe I just got lucky?-)"
That’s when it clicked for me, when I saw this definition -
3. Favor or goodwill. Synonyms: kindness, kindliness, love, benignity; condescension.
So, who ever sent you that e-mail also helped me to solve a little bit more of my puzzle, which in turn may help someone else who reads this comment solve a piece of their puzzle, and so on … that’s the way it seems to work … ripples of grace.
Or maybe I just got lucky?-)"
Thanks goes to Ailsa (I had better plug your book, too, I guess?-) for throwing a piece of the puzzle my way.
 |
| Sinning Across Spain |
"Why do we give books,films,music to others we care about ?"
ReplyDeleteFantastic question! It's all starting to slot into place...