I love my yoga studio, but I do not love the parking lot. It’s in the middle of the city, so it is a blessing that they even have parking, but their lot is tight. One car packs in behind another and it’s a challenge to get out because one wrong move and you either hit the wall of the building or a car that is parked in one of the marked spaces. It’s like being a bull in a china shop where moving has to be done very intentionally and very carefully. I preface with this because I’m generally a cautious person when backing out of this lot for these very reasons.
The studio sits on a fairly busy street and so there is no parking on either side. This is marked everywhere along the street, yet a woman chose not to follow the rule and parked on the street illegally “to check her phone because she felt it was safer to stop to check it rather than drive and check it.” As such, I backed right up into this woman. I was going maybe 2 miles an hour, as I’d mentioned that I was moving very carefully so as not to hit anything on the sides of my car, but failed to notice this car parked directly behind me on the street. Since it’s a no parking zone, I assume nobody will be parked behind me and check each side for traffic before backing out of the lot. As I bumped her car, I rolled my eyes, heard my ego say, “Go! Go! Go! Nobody saw you,” (that good old ego trying to keep me “safe” again) and then pulled over to the other side of the street, which is also a no parking zone, and waited for the other yogis to pull out of the lot before I could pull back in and talk to the woman of the car I’d bumped.
I looked at her car and saw no visible damage and figured I was being courteous by checking to see if everything was ok.This woman insisted there was damage and stated her car was new. It was an old Mazda, but she explained it was new to her. I asked her what she wanted to do, took photos of her car and license plate. She indicated that we could handle it outside of insurance, which I was somewhat apprehensive about because of her insistence that there was damage, when I would have just let someone go about their day given there wasn’t anything there. As she asked for my information, my ego insisted on giving her the wrong information, but I decided against it and gave her my name and phone # after taking hers down. It’s funny how that ego of ours tries to “keep us out of trouble” by attempting to avoid “danger.” It’s a good thing I gave her my real information because as I was walking back to the studio lot, she asked if she could call me to make sure it went through. I told her I’d call her so she would have the # I called her from.
She texted me a couple of days later telling me she got a quote from her auto body shop of $250.00, which was fine with me since it was less than my deductible. I told her to have it done and I’d pay it. She got the work done and I’d called the shop she had it done at to make the payment directly and they told me “not to worry about it.” They informed me that it was so minor, that they just buffed a minor mark out and there was no charge. I’m sharing because I feel that the universe gifts us when we do the right thing. When we ignore our ego-mind and we act with our God-mind, the universe truly does have our back (as Gabby Bernstein) so often exclaims.
I’m positive that because I chose to remain calm in the situation, be compassionate to the individual who I’d hit (although I didn’t see any damage, I did not call her a liar and argue with her), be honest, and handle things with honor, I was rewarded. God notices everything and sometimes I believe He lets us know it. When I got off the phone, I was so touched and responded with a huge “Thank You.” I told my fiancé that I felt like I just got a love note from God himself in that moment and was incredibly grateful that it worked out as a win/win situation. She got her car buffed and I didn’t have to pay $250.00. I also have a new auto body shop. I took down the name of the shop and plan to go get a couple of things touched up on my car since they were so kind and honest about what they’d done to her car. They easily could have taken the money even though they’d done minimal work. Instead, they chose to bless me.
This moment of my life restored my faith in humanity and encouraged my belief in the spiritual saying, “When you change, the world changes.” As I’ve grown calmer and more positive, I’ve definitely seen changes in the world around me. Logically, I know the world has not holistically changed, but I will say that my world has been. I’m seeing more opportunities to help others. I’m seeing more kindness shown to me. I’m enjoying nature at a deeper level. I’m getting better at allowing the goodness of life to penetrate my being while allowing the negative to pass through quickly instead of hanging on.
I’m finding ways to make the things I haven’t yet fully learned how to love more pleasurable. For example, I found a little boating dock by my office to have lunch at on days that I must work from the office. I’m still yearning to leave my 9-5 and write, counsel, speak, travel, teach yoga, and fix houses for a living, but haven’t taken the leap to quit yet. I keep trusting the universe for the timing and haven’t quite gotten a large enough push that says, “It’s time.” Meanwhile, I continue to write in my free hours, practice yoga (signing up for the YTT session starting in October), and move forward part-time with what I hope will become my full-time work. I trust that as I keep moving forward, opportunities will present themselves and I’ll be guided toward those that are for me as long as I remain focused on taking the next “right” action. I trust that as I give more to life, life will continue to give more to me.
Do you believe in karma? Why? Why not? What unexpected “gift(s)” have you received from the universe (it’s all a gift, but I’m looking for something unexpected/out of the ordinary)? What made those moments special for you?