Opening to Jasmine

I am from New England and I went to a conference in California. One of the presenters was Bob Proctor, author of You Were Born Rich and one of the teachers who appeared in the blockbuster movie, The Secret. I have to admit I believed Bob was overly forceful in presenting his ideas on how to create a better life. When it was time to go home I was okay with leaving him behind.

I got on the longest leg of my plane trip home and I prayed that no one would sit next to me because I wanted to go right to sleep. A chatty little eleven-year old girl named Jasmine sat down. I soon found out she was on the way home to Kentucky from visiting her divorced Dad in Hawaii and many details of her trip.

When it was time to go to sleep (we were on the “red-eye” so it was after midnight whatever time zone it was), the girl kept wriggling and bumping me. I felt tired and annoyed, but suddenly I heard Bob saying, “Negative attitudes will only bring negative results” so I decided to try to keep open to the “possibilities.”

As it became the wee hours of the morning the girl finally began to nod off. Her head would rest on my shoulder momentarily until she became aware this was happening and she would stop herself … until … eventually … her head dropped on my shoulder again. It became comical and then sweet to me. I began to realize I really wanted to tell her it was okay to rest her head on my shoulder, but something held me back. It was fear. I was afraid to invite her because she wasn’t my little girl. It took me about fifteen minutes, but finally I spoke out the little voice I was hearing in my heart.

“Honey, it’s okay if you want to lay your head on my shoulder,” I said. And so she did.

What then washed over my mind and my heart became a delicious, experience with the two of us, as if she were my very own daughter, spending a joy-filled afternoon together. I let go completely and in my inner silence happiness poured out. The experience and gratitude for it became one and the same, and propelled each other into full-blown love. What was happening was no longer just a “possibility.” As if the plane had flown into some other dimension, I became totally connected to the joy of motherhood, to the love of this little girl, and at the same time to the All That Is. It was as though I was a fountain. I have no idea how long it lasted.