“Shoplifter gets run over twice by her getaway car : CAPE CORAL, Fla. (AP) — Authorities are looking for a shoplifter who was run over twice by her getaway car after stealing $1,200 worth of designer purses.” Now that is someone who has made some poor career choices. The news item reads: “A T.J. Maxx security guard told police she was confronting the woman when a car pulled up. The shoplifter tried to get into the vehicle but fell out and was run over by the car. She then got up and jumped onto the hood of the car. As the car was driving away, the report said the woman fell off and was run over again. On her third attempt, she finally made it into the vehicle. Police are using the car’s license plate from Absolutereg.co.uk to check what the woman dropped to track her down.”
Talk about the wrong applicant getting the job! Now in all fairness, I’m sure the shoplifter didn’t aspire to that profession all the while growing up. She probably just fell into it. And in likelihood, she’s not as stupid as she might first appear. She’s probably just drugged or drunk and has been for too long, and she didn’t plan on that either.
She also didn’t plan on counting as a good friend and uh, business partner if you will, not having her back and creating risk for her, beyond what risk she chose for herself. The reason she got in this position in the first place is likely that she had just kind of gone with the flow, not having any real goals or directions of her own. So whoever she found alongside her would became her inspiration for the day or the week or the month, and she just kind of went along with the program. Not really thinking for herself, and it was an easy routine to get into.
And maybe from time to time she really got down because nothing was really happening, and all sorts of things were beginning to happen that she wasn’t particularly into and she wished she had a better life, but it seemed too much effort to strive for anyway. Maybe tomorrow. Then pretty soon she realizes she’s hanging out with people with whom she no longer has anything in common except their drinking and drugging and, odd as it seems, that made them a kind of family.
But family is supposed to protect you and not run you over – twice – in the getaway car. It starts to sink in that maybe this isn’t really my family and maybe I need to get into another line of work.
Get into another line of work. That’s easier said than done, isn’t it? The first thing we look at is “What can I do to earn $XX per month to cover my lifestyle expenses?” Then we look at “What am I qualified to do?” and it’s not like we see a lot of choices. If we’re smart, we next look at “What would I consider getting educated and trained for? Even if I’m 55?”
I think it’s important to know what you like and, if you don’t, then discover it. Take a look around at people who catch your eye, whether on tv or in movies or in real life, and break it down and discover what it is about it that catches your eye or holds your attention.
Do you like watching people entertain you (movies), or do you like to be involved in the activity yourself (tennis). Do you enjoy watching people display skills whether it be body building or folk painting? Do you enjoy watching competitive sports? Have you ever taken a guitar lesson or sat and done an afternoon of goofy drawing and watercolor painting and found you liked it and wanted to express your creativity that way more often?
A lot of people would say “I’m a loner” but often that’s not true at all. It’s often that you are at that stage on the path where you feel a bit isolated and not included and a little taken advantage of and transitioning out of old family and friendships, so you choose to stop going to events or classes or gatherings with former friends you now feel you no longer know.
You may not be satisfied at home alone with your thoughts but it begins to be preferable to being around people you feel are no longer genuine, or that you’ve simply outgrown. You think back to the times in your life when you had a really active social calendar, and you hung out with fun groups of people all the time and had a blast. There was always a party just waiting for you to step into it.
The only difference between then and now is that you no longer drive to the venue and walk in the door. One by one you’ve stopped doing old activities, but have not picked up any new ones along the way. Back when I had time to have a life *smile* I used to take all sorts of classes, just to hear what everyone had to say and to meet new people. Give the Universe an opportunity to guide me into a new direction. All I had to do was show up and breathe.
If I could make myself drive to the new class or workshop or discussion group, and just walk in the door – just show up and breathe – the Universe would take care of the rest. My attention would be caught by this topic or that, this person or that, and I would leave with new knowledge to ponder. And one thought would attract another thought would attract another class would attract another friend…
As I lost interest in some things, I would seek out new things, seeking to tempt my curiousity and interest. I would make a conscious decision to keep myself in front of other people, in groups with them, rather than doing solo activities. I counted it as a discipline, as a new yoga for me to add to my daily practice.
Because I’ve made a practice of doing this for so many years, I have cultivated many, many interests and can now honestly say I have not been bored for decades. I always have a list of things I want to research and try and check into when I have the time.
Me knowing what I like to do has without a doubt attracted to me the kind of life I am living now. I remember in the 80’s lying in the sun in my backyard, flipping through the pages of a New Age Journal and thinking ” I would love to just lie around at home all day reading stuff like this”. And guess what. Now I do. Well, kinda.
I never set out and said I’m going to create a magazine. In fact it wasn’t even my idea at all. My friends Theresa Richardson and Kristy Swaim Souto asked if I’d like to do Horizons Magazine with them but I had a full time job and said no. But I was very interested in the emerging desktop publishing technology and was doing several yoga newsletters, so I offered to proof read and made some design suggestions on the first 2 issues. By the 3rd issue, their enthusiasm had influenced me and I joined in the magazine. By 1996, both of them had decided to pursue other paths and I began doing Horizons on my own.
Horizons was never designed to create income so since 1992 I’ve done psychic readings to pay the bills. Doing the magazine has always been kind of a hobby I guess you’d call it, something I‘ve done because I felt compelled to do it. I like the idea of gathering what I think is the most relevant reading I’d like my friends to be sharing with me right now, and compiling it each month into Horizons Magazine.
I think if I was doing it just to make money, it would not have the same energy about it for me. The fact that it feels like a life’s mission is what keeps me going in it.
Discover your life’s mission
I think we can have many life missions. Kind of like soulmates. I believe several move in and out of our experience during our lifetimes. Abraham-Hicks says “You come forth in clusters with intentions to enhance one another’s experience; and when you meet up with your cluster, it’s really fun.” I believe that by making yourself go to new places and experiencing new people, you will place yourself in a position to be guided to new interests and new friends. It certainly helps you whittle down the list of what do I like and not like, what thrills me and what bores me?
All you have to do is show up – somewhere, anywhere – and breathe, with the intent that the Universe will gently guide you to your next step on the path of discovering purpose and meaning in your life.
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