Notes from Diggory's Diary
It's quite funny how another person's situation mirrors your own in the same exact way. My dog died a few days ago, and as if the universe can't wait to shake me up some more, I lost my house keys and can't go inside my apartment right now. It's 6:30 pm, and at this ungodly hour, the last time I checked, my building superintendent can't help me open my front door since he needs to rush out to Queens owing to a family emergency.
So here I am at Gotham Coffee Shop, my favorite coffee place at 2nd Avenue (between 68th and 69th streets) in Manhattan, sipping my blues away, wondering why on earth bad things seem to be happening to me lately.
I usually take a breather to clear my mind from my work as a painter, and like clockwork, I stop from 3pm to 5pm, walk to one of the major museums around the area: Guggenheim, MOMA, Frick or the Metropolitan Museum of Art and gaze at the innumerable paintings hanging by their walls. Is it Van Gogh, Matisse or Picasso today? Rembrandt or Goya the next day? I usually take lots of pictures to serve as my inspiration, and download the images while I sip my cappuccino, and clear the visual kinks that hound a painter finishing a work of art.
At 5pm, I rush home, back to my apartment, hook up my laptop and hear a live radio stream from one of my favorite stations in the world and listen to Mo Twister, Mojo and Grace Lee at their Good Times show.
As a guy with a solitary occupation, I usually listen to their radio show when I work late into the night ,preparing for my upcoming exhibit next month at the Chelsea gallery, a stone's throw away from here. As I mix my oils and choose the colors, I listen and get thoroughly amused by those three Musketeers - Mo Twister,Mojo and Grace Lee. Listening to these three incredible people help me boost my energy and calm me when I'm feeling jittery, especially now that the exhibit is four weeks away.
I look at the time and sigh. Better to just listen to the radio show at this coffee shop and wait here until 8pm.
As I listen to the show, I realized that Mo Twister and I have almost identical experiences the past week – he also lost his dog violently, and as if things couldn’t get bad, he was locked out too. Or was it locked in? The Twister called early in the morning through the landline, but I didn’t clearly get it if he was in or out of his apartment.
As I pondered on both of our predicaments, I remembered reading Deepak Chopra’s book “Synchrodestiny” wherein he states that there's no such thing as a meaningless coincidence.
“For more than a decade, I have been fascinated by the idea that coincidence is involved in shaping and shaping our lives. . .each time we have an experience like these, we can choose to dismiss it as a random occurrence in this chaotic world, or we can recognize it for the potentially life altering event it may prove to be. I do not believe in meaningless coincidence. I believe every coincidence is a message, a clue about a particular facet of our lives that require our attention.”
Hmmm. . . so what clues are behind my dog’s tragic death, and the loss of my keys? Is it a clue that my life is out of control? Or that I’m leading a life of senseless violence? Are my paintings meaningless?
“When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their messages, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities. This is when the magic begins. This is a state I call ‘synchrodestiny’ in which it becomes possible to achieve the spontaneous fulfillment of our every desire. Synchrodestiny requires gaining access to a palce deep with yourself, while at the same time awakening to the intricate dance of coincidences out in the physical world. It requires understanding the profound nature of things, recognizing the wellspring of intelligence that endlessly creates our universe, and yet having the intention to pursue opportunities for change as they appear.”
Whew.
“When a coincidence arises, don’t ignore it. Ask yourself, what is the message here? What is the significance of this? You don’t need to go digging for the answers. Ask the question, and the answers will emerge. They may arrive as a sudden insight, a spontaneous creative experience, or they may be something different. Perhaps you will meet a person who is somehow related to the coincidence that occurred. An encounter, a relationship,a chance meeting, a situation, a circumstance will immediately give you a clue to its meaning.”
Well, I had a pretty set of circumstances last week which I still can’t find its rhyme or reason to my life. I have to find time to really be quiet and reflect on what the past events in my life mean.
Meanwhile, Deepak Chopra suggests to keep a journal or diary and find out which powerful and unusual stimuli draws my attention explaining that “those are the things in your environment you need to look at more closely.
Instead of writing on it, I’ve been clipping pictures and images of what catches my attention. I’m drawn to this picture of the serene New York apartment of Law and Order’s Christopher Meloni, designed by his wife Sherman.
What does it mean? What do the views suggest? Perhaps, I need to look at my life from a bird’s point of view and look at it objectively, from afar? Perhaps I need to be more spiritual, since I’m too bound on earthly things? Perhaps my dog is up in heaven, nearer the skies, and the moon and the stars. That’s a nice thought.
My cellphone flashes, and I recognize my building superintendent’s number. He’s home, the text message says.
Time to go home.
I hope Mr.Gumatay can heed the coincidences in his life, and like me, stop and ponder on life’s imponderables. There’s no other way, right? A tragedy is always a perfect time to be silent and to just listen. Perhaps, a clue is just right in front of you. You just have to teach yourself to be more aware.
Goodtimes!
(Postscript: I've started to read Deepak Chopra's 'Synchrodestiny' to attune myself to the larger meaning of coincidences in one's life. Sometimes messages from the universe are to be heeded; sometimes it rolls like a tiny stone and sometimes it comes as a brick wall.
After the twin incidents in Mo Twister's life, I started to think of a fictional character with the same unique set of events happening to his life. Would he ignore it or see a greater meaning behind the events?
In Diggory's case, he started to 'ponder on the imponderables', and perhaps gained an ounce of wisdom in the end.)
