Week 21: Can Truth Be Found Playing Hooky?

Just to see how immense the change has been since starting the MKMMA course I used to say that, “For most of my life I was a hermit.” and virtually in the same breath “I don’t like small talk.” Now, I am more at ease and happy to speak to others. The difference in my life is that people are coming to me and initiating conversation. I’m no longer invisible!

When you read on you will see that I’m starting to find my voice. It’s not something I’m consciously doing, it’s organic and happening naturally, thanks to my unwritten Earl Nightingale 30 Day Goal Card back in January.

I’m so excited now that I’ll stop writing… You know, “Do it now.” I just wrote: “I have a magnificent voice that is clear, confident and heard by all.”

What spoke to me most this week?

It was an excerpt from this week’s Lesson:

For your exercise this week, concentrate on Truth. Try to realize that the Truth shall make you free, that is, nothing can permanently stand in the way of your perfect success when you learn to apply the scientifically correct thought methods and principles…

Realize that Silence offers an ever-available and almost an unlimited opportunity for awakening the highest conception of Truth…Silent thought concentration is therefore the true method of reaching, awakening, and then expressing the wonderful potential power of the world within.

Truth has been and still is important to me. The nature of Truth has expanded over time. It is no longer black and white as I understood it to be in my youth. I am, like those of you reading now, a ‘Seeker of Truth.’ Perhaps, a tongue-in-cheek minor difference, is that Truth has been my passion since 1989.

The Master Key (my words) alluded to this week could be paraphrased as “Dwell in the Great Silence.” In order to dwell I must be still and the purpose of dwelling in the Silence is to know Truth. This reminds me of the saying from Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

One of the first things we were asked to do in this Master Key Master Mind Alliance Course was to have a written schedule for the week. The very first thing to be scheduled was time to be with our higher power, by whatever name we may use – I refer to this infinite power as the Source of All That Is.

Even at this moment of writing this post I have not scheduled the time. Prior to starting the course, I communed with Source first thing in the morning and the very last thing at night, regular as clockwork. I have so missed these silent moments, whose absence definitely contributed to me being out of whack after New Year’s.

I’m chipping away at techno cement

My major challenge has been with technology. The energy I have expended in guilt, shame, confusion, refusal to follow instructions, etc… took me to the brink of giving up, mentioned previously.

I still have a techno archangel looking after me, encouraging me to be self-reliant, and I am. If communication was not possible when I felt challenged in recent weeks, either I successfully Googled it or worked it out by myself. Small miracles, but powerful incentives to do more and be more.

That being said, “Want a laugh?”

Let’s go back a couple of weeks. I spent 3-4 hours driving around, without air-conditioning, trying to find anyone that sold mouse pads and a mouse. My Logitech wireless mouse stopped working. It might work as it should or it wouldn’t move at all and if it did move it was shaky and jumped around. The end result of all these efforts was a $20 corded mouse.

The positive from driving around on a very hot 39^o C day was that I enlisted the local services of Michal, just 3 minutes from my house. Are all computer geeks archangels? Michal has an incredible heart and a commitment to be of service. His service is off the charts!

Yesterday, he cleaned up the non-essentials on my laptop and the speed and functionality of my laptop has dramatically increased and its working like a charm.

“What about the laugh?” you might be thinking.

Just as Michal was handing me back my machine he asked to take a look at my wireless mouse, the one that doesn’t work. He performed his magic and showed me that its working perfectly. I asked him “What did you do?”

Michal said, “Have a look under the mouse. See that little hole.” “Yeah” I removed some fluff from it.” Hindsight is a wonderful thing. One second in maintenance would have saved 4 hours in the hot sun!

I am thankful that I made this connection because now I have added one more amazing individual to my team. The foundation is being laid down. The pieces are coming together.

What other magic happened?

I had always thought of “playing hooky” in the usual way as truanting, implying getting up to no good or trying to put one over on somebody.

The following puts a positive spin on “playing hooky,” also spelled “hookey.”

John Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms (1848) has entries for “hookey” and for a term that I suspect may be very closely related, “on one’s own hook”.

ON ONE’S OWN HOOK. A phrase much used in familiar language, denoting on one’s own account ; as, ‘He is doing business on his own hook,’ i. e. for himself.

“Hookey” in this sense of “doing business for himself” is close to the idea of a Mental Health Day and I was long overdue.

On the weekend I played hooky from the MKE Course. I took a day off to attend two mini-workshops with Dianne Bellchambers , “Demystifying How To Be” and “Soul Power; Be Calm, Centred & Connected.”

On arriving early, Dianne asked if I could help with something technical.

Maybe it was my mere presence and engagement or a couple of basic questions I asked, but somehow the sound problem was fixed and Dianne credited me with having been the difference. The result was as other people came in they could enjoy the ambience of the pre-event music.

Not to labor the point, but she asked me to help her with her mic that wasn’t operating. That was easier for me. I had previous experience going back to the source of electronic issues. I turned on the switch at the power point. Again I was rewarded with acknowledgement for helping out.

Just before the start the workshop a breath of fresh air sat down beside me. Her name was Pamela.

During the morning break we began talking and on the chime to regroup we ‘paused’ to go and get our coffee. Lunch time came and we did it all over again for the entire 80 minute break and it was déjà vu – the chime went and then we each got a plate of leftovers.

Prior to this, my old way of interacting with a stranger was to ask questions and let them do the talking. On the weekend my experience was reversed. A new precedent was formed.

I did most of the talking. It just flowed from my lips and Pamela was asking the questions. My energy was up and surprise, surprise, I was interesting. It was just pure fun having a conversation with a like-minded soul.

We caught up yesterday for a coffee. We actually met outside the café as we were both about to turn, from opposite directions onto a ramp leading to the café. Great timing! The next three hours passed quickly and this time it was more balanced, but just as lively as Saturday.

I also found this interesting 17^th-century reference to the game of Hide-and-Seek linked to ‘playing hooky.”.

Play hooky is probably derived from the Dutch term hoekje (spelen) ‘hide-and-seek’. The Dutch word hoek means ‘corner’– the boys in 17th-century New Amsterdam played this game around the corners of the street. Hide-and-seek was a different game back then–the players had to search for a hidden object.

In this very moment, I am realizing that, the original reasons I attributed to myself for “playing hooky” like overwhelm, a sense of dread and guilt for not keeping up is not the main story.

Creating Tools for Expansion

Last week and this week, we are ‘encouraged’ to share online how Fear, Hurt Feelings, Anger, Guilt and/or Unworthiness could be used as “Tools for Expansion.”

Earlier, I shared that I am a ‘Seeker of Truth.’ The 17th-century reference states that the players (children) had to search for a hidden object. What if, in the Game of Life as an adult, “playing hooky” is the search for a hidden object that we can call Truth?

My guilt was so oppressive that I had to stop. I had to acknowledge the truth of my exhaustion and its pervasive effect on my physical, mental and emotional and spiritual bodies. I literally had to lie down for about an hour or so, to process things and be with myself.

By acknowledging the truth to myself, the cat was out of the bag. I freed myself up to follow this with another question. A plea for help. “What would the person I intend to be do now?” I was given absolute confirmation for what I had been putting off for weeks: “STOP!”

“Stop pretending. Stop trying. Stop wasting your time when you are not putting your heart and soul into it… Take some time to regroup… Relax. Do things differently…” The thoughts kept coming.

So I put this plan into action. After having a late morning coffee with a friend and instead of going straight home, I dropped into the Theosophical Bookshop to see if I could find a Myofascial Release practitioner. I hadn’t been there for 20 years.

Sue was the person behind the counter. She was very helpful and as we got chatting Sue shared details of the workshop I attended last weekend.

It’s a good reminder that good things happen when I follow my bliss. I wasn’t in a hurry to do anything and I took some time sitting on the steps outside overlooking Adelaide’s ‘Greenbelt.’

In considering my Truth and what I needed to do to feel back on track I reinstated my ‘normal’ spiritual practices. The payoff of listening to myself and asking my future self (the person I intend to be), “What would he do next?” or “How would he deal with this or that situation?” has been more is getting done. Because more is getting done, it’s getting easier to do, and I am a happy.

 

Unite in Unity