People often smile at me, as if we have met before. It’s a funny phenom for me. When introduced, they often say, “You look so familiar.” I laugh. I look like every other East Coast Jewish girl. I’m not that unique.
Or am I?
A few years ago, I read Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives by Brian L. Weiss. It was fascinating.
On his website, Dr. Weiss describes the story: As a traditional psychotherapist, he was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from “the space between lives,” which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss’s family and his dead son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career.
After reading his book, the frequent smiles and familiar greetings began to make sense. The next time someone said “hi” with a knowing intonation, I whispered to my husband, “In a past life, I must have been a Queen and these are my peoples; I must have been a good Queen and they are happy to see me again!”
Clearly, I’m joking. But why else would strangers wave? I travel a lot for business and sometimes in the airport I make a game out of counting the number of people who smile at me. I love it. It brightens my spirits after long days and reminds me of the good in this world.
We are all so busy. And it shows on our faces. The scowls, the impatience, the disappointment. But what if we smiled more. Simply said, “Hey, how’s it going?” Took a deep breath and smiled before responding?
Today, while walking in the park, a man walked toward me, talking on his cell phone. As I passed, he smiled and waved. I smiled back. I didn’t know him. But maybe he tasted my food for me hundreds of years ago and was simply showing back up to say, “Delicious day out here in the park, isn’t it?
When do you MindFULLY notice when you meet someone familiar? Let us know.
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