The spirits of the Island had a surprise
Did you ever have one of those days when you didn’t know why, nor did you really think to ask why, and you found yourself getting ready to do something or go somewhere that you had not consciously planned on?
That happened to me a couple days ago. I got up and did my web work, did a few things around the house, made a trip to the grocery store and filled the car with gas. In the mid afternoon, I found myself shaving and getting ready to “go somewhere.” It all of a sudden dawned on me I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going although there was anticipation that it was going to be good.
Then all of a sudden I heard a voice in my head say, “Verandah Lounge,” and I thought, ahhhh, OK.
The Verandah Lounge is at the Keauhou Beach Resort, and the lounge actually extends out over a lagoon near the ocean, so if you are sitting at the railing, the water is right below you with colorful fishies swimming around, and if you are there after dark, the lights from the resort illuminate the water and you can watch the Eels come out and look for food. There are also usually Honu (the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles) basking on the small island in the center of the lagoon, so it is a real delight, and a great place to watch sunsets.
I headed down about 5:30pm and there was an open table at the front overlooking the ocean so I wandered over and sat down. There was a warm tropical breeze coming in off the ocean, and to me, that is the finest perfume there is. The waves were gentle whispers that night and within a few minutes of settling in, the sun came out from behind a high cloud bank and it was then I noticed how clear it was to the west, and you could see the horizon line very clearly. I smiled and realize that this might be a very nice sunset coming up.
I had a couple “beverages” and while on the second, the band started to play. It is a Hawaiian trio and they keep the volume at a very nice level. You can carry on a conversation, but you can also hear the wonderful music. As the sun got close to the horizon, as they always do, the trio started to play a Hawaiian song. Since I don’t speak Hawaiian, I cannot understand it, but I can certainly “feel” it, and it was the perfect match to the beautiful sunset we were about to experience.
As the sun touched the horizon, everyone became quiet, listening to the beautiful music, and watching the sun say its nightly fairwell. The song is just long enough to where it ends right as the sun sets, and as it became just a sliver of light on the horizon, the light turned green and stayed that way for about six seconds. When it faded away, everyone applauded the sunset. Where else but here would 50 patrons, some vacationers, some locals, applaud a sunset? I’ve only experienced that here, and it is genuine, heartfelt and spontaneous.
I listened to the trio for about a half hour longer and then made my way down to the waters edge, took a deep breath and sent the spirits my gratitude. I drove back along Ali’i Drive, which runs right along the ocean with my windows down breathing in the sea’s sweet perfume and then headed up and back home.
No I did not have my camera with me (all I have is a small pocket digital with me right now and we don’t get along too well). Sorry.
What a magical life you are leading. One would think that you were in the right place for you, or something. Isn’t seeing a flash of green at sunset supposed to be an indicator of great good luck? Looks like you got paid in advance.
Thanks for sharing. It would have been nice to see a photo of the sunset, but I get the feeling that “it” didn’t want to be photographed; it was for those who were there.
Definitely magical, and yes, I’ve heard the green flash indicates luck as well. Good luck is always a good thing.
I’ll get the green flash captured, or perhaps I should say recorded, on film one of these days when it is ready to have its photograph taken (a good hair day).
When I first started reading it I was immediately taken to the idea that you were to meet someone – for some sort of contact for whatever reason. On further reading I got swept away with the idea that sometimes we are asked to …..do something …… go somewhere ……. for the simple reason of refreshing our soul/essence.
thank you for sharing.
Irene
Irene, that could always be true, if not this time, perhaps another. About 20 years ago I started to see how truly amazing life is, and (I know I say this a lot) how magical it is, but it is true.
Richard,
I thought what Irene thought — that the fates had you destined to meet someone special. It might be the romantic in me. But you know, those Hawaiian sunsets, and the air near the water, they are special in a different way. I know, I was born and raised on the island of Oahu and my grandparents had their pineapple plantation on the island of Kauai.
Another thing: The scent of plumerias. Of plumeria leis. Too strong when applied from a bottle, but just right when wafting through the air.
Aloha.
Lorna
Lorna, see my reply to Irene regarding meeting someone.
I know what you mean about the plumerias, they are incredible, and while walking or driving, I’ve actually turned around and gone back and followed my nose to the source of that wonderful fragrance.
In your sidebar you have this:
”Thought and Inspirations
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” — Marcus Aurelius“
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard, if only that were true. If only it were a simple matter of changing our attitude.
~Lorna
Lorna, I actually know that is true from experience, at least for me.
How each of us reacts to a particular event is the product of all our previous life experiences. Our past experiences become the filter through which we experience the world around us. When we start to ask ourselves why we react one way or another, and are open and ready to hear the answer, it will come. Once we have that pulled up into consciousness, we can examine it, understand it, “own” it, and then let it go with our Aloha. We have just effectively changed our filter, and we will no longer react to the same experience in the way we did because that trigger is now gone.
This actually should be an entire post, so I’ll stop here for now, but like I said, in my experience Marcus was dead on.
My own experience is also that Marcus Aureilus was (is) right on. Once I awakened and became conscious I came to know I possessed knowledge gained in past lives. I met two horrific challenges and overcame both via inner gruidance. I came to know my other and made the choice to love myself and become my own best friend.
The more often I chose to reject fear’s former hold on me and to examine the core values I had been inculcated with as a child the more changes I needed to make and did make. I began to see the real “me” in a way I had never seen me before. I replaced the core values that were just plain wrong and also those that held me back from being the best I could self confidence.
I had developed inner strength I need to embrace the challenges I face every day with a positive attitude and a sense of humor, knowing that the only constant in this universe is change and I was here for a purpose and in time I knew what that purpose was.
TiTi
[soapbox]
I agree, and fear is at the heart of all this polarization we have been seeing for the past decade, especially here in the US. It seems like everyone is splintering up into groups and trying to stone each other to death. It saddens me so to see all this bickering, backstabbing and whining that is coming from our so called leaders, and the problem is that people are lining up behind them and they don’t realize that it doesn’t matter which side your on, they are both coming from the negative polarity. They all seem to have forgotten that when differences of opinion occur, the best course of action is to sit down calmly and discuss it. Both sides have to give the other side time to explain their point, and both sides have to actually LISTEN. No one listens anymore it seems. One side opens their mouth to say something and the other side starts to try and drown them out with fear, lies, half-truths, or they start tossing around un-American and unpartriotic and socialist, or you aren’t supporting the troops.
[/soapbox]
Real change never comes from the top although true leaders can certainly be a catalyst for change. But it always has to start with the individual. Each of us has to make the decision – consciously or unconsciously – not to partake in these asinine exercises of hate and futility because they lead us absolutely nowhere, and they certainly don’t lead us out of the negative polarity. When enough people simply turn away and say, enough, then we can start to build a new future. If we stay this current course, this country IS going to collapse in on itself.
Ah, that inner guidance. Sometimes we are cloaked off from ourselves. It is beautiful when we can allow the trust.
Comments here are fascinating, too.
Muse, it definitely is beautiful.
I think I will study that Buddhist blog a bit more and visit a Buddhist temple one of these days.
Meanwhile, I have to do all that it takes to not be diabetic, and I read that stress adds to it.
Dear Rich,
There’s definitely something to be said for being in the right place at the right time. There’s even more to be said when we are in the correct state to appreciate the totality of the experience by allowing ourselves to become one with it. This is not to say that we are ever separated from our environment and experiences; it is to say that we filter. We habitually use our vision and forget to engage our other senses. That automatic selection means we frequently miss the wholeness. Only when we are conscious and mindful do the visual, the auditory, the olfactory, and tactile aspects combine and bring the “big picture” into focus.
Your green flash at sunset description prompted a memory of a summer’s night 2 years ago. One late August evening I found myself leaving our studio where I had been feverishly working and still had much left to do and heading for the beach. In a semi-dreamlike state I was washing up and getting dressed to go out at a time I normally would have been undressing and preparing for bed. My partner’s eyebrows furrowed when I asked him if he wanted to come along on a walk but he decided he didn’t have time and so I went alone.
The walking part didn’t last for long. I was very tired and my body ached. I sat on a large sandstone shelf that had been warmed by the sun all say long. That stone heat seeped into my bones soothing and healing me as I observed the symphony of life in the tide pool next to me. Before long I chose to close my weary eyes and for the next half hour I sat in meditation.
Clear headed and keenly alert the sounds, smells, taste and tactile experience of the time and space pervaded me, speaking to me of wholeness and my place in that wholeness. When I opened my eyes with tears streaming down my cheeks, the sun was setting and I witnessed a green flush of phosphorescence along the waterline as the red sun sank into the sea.
Ocean phosphorescence, commonly seen at night when the water is disturbed, is largely due to the dinoflagellates; they occur ubiquitously in the oceans as planktonic forms, responding to mechanical stimulation when the water is disturbed by emitting brief bright light.
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls this spiritual adventure science.
As you know Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of the volcano as well as the goddess of transformation, passion, vitality and creation. Pele is a powerful force on the Hawaiian Islands and you were meant to be in that right place at the right time for transformation.
I salute the divine light within both thee and me, in that time and space within, wherein we are one.
Namaste,
TiTi