I lied, I love bars. I was sat in a bar Saturday night (It is currently Monday, 7:45 PM).
I wont go into exactly how I found myself there or exactly how this man ended up talking to me but he taught me a little lesson and I think I should share it with as many people as I am lucky enough to effect in this world.
Like many people who talk to me, they usually ask where I lived before NYC and then follows the question as to why I moved to England and why I left England. I inevitably get emotional whenever it is brought up. I think I will be emotional about England for the rest of my life (regardless) he senses my discomfort and asks more personal questions. I truthfully answer his questions and THEN....
AND THENNNNNN he lets it out......
No, not his dick.. his advice.. his brilliant.. insightful.. useful.. sense making advice..
He told me how to be happy. Literally.
As if that's even possible! How can someone possibly tell you how to be happy without being in your shoes. Does anyone even really know what happiness is?! This man told me flat out to be happy and explained step by step how to get to that state of acceptance and realize what exactly is important in life. It blew my fucking mind.
He told me that I need to find what is most important to me in my life and like a laser beam, focus on it. Crystal clear vision on this one thing I have chosen. All of the voices and confusion around me is garbage. It's bullshit. This one thing I have chosen is the direction I need to walk towards and if I can block all of those things getting in my way, like an eagle, I will soar.
He asked me what thee most important thing in this world to me was.... I sat there and actually couldn't think of anything to say. Friends? They come and go (no offense to my friends reading this.. but its true). Family? I have none. Love? The only man I have ever loved just left me. I got nothin'!
He said most people answer with "friends" or "family" or "my career". Its all wrong. None of that stuff that is thee most important thing to you, he said.
I sat stairing at him....
"Oxygen.. oxygen is the most important thing in your life" He explained, you cant breathe without it. Not even for a minute or you will start to die. So stop talking, stop listening, and take a deep breath. In and out, soak it up, inhale, and really feel it. Feel yourself breathing. You're alive.
Okayyyyyy.
I had no clue what to say to this man. I mean.. If you want to get technical, yes.. Oxygen is really the most important thing to me.. I can live for quite a while without food and water, but air, I cannot.
He said "think simple. simple thoughts mean no confusion. black and
white. right and wrong. life is grey. life is all sorts of shades of grey
but it doesn't have to be. people get their emotions and thoughts mixed
up and they get confused. be simple. think simple. just "be".
He said now that we have taken that step to get what is most important to us, lets move on to what is next, most important. "Your health. You're diabetic?" (I'm diabetic btw) "Stop eating the bread I bought you. Drink the water" and he snatched the bread from my hands and handed me my glass, and demanded that I drink the entire thing. He told me anything that is processed in a factory I am to no longer touch. If it has been altered I am to no longer consume it and once I conquer this, then I move on to what is NEXT important to me. He said "within time you will realize how simply happy your life will become. Period. Simple." He told me not to think about it and to just "do".
He went off into a rant about drugs and what he does for a living and his friend that he left behind at the previous bar. More small talk.
Then he mentioned being an alligator.. Wait, huh? He said "In my dreams I am an alligator" and OF COURSE I asked him what the FUCK he was talking about. He said alligators are the oldest living creature on the earth (I can't remember if it's alligators or sharks but I'm not going to argue with this man). Think with a reptile mind, they know best, they have survived everything. He said, An aligator is simple. He sits. He waits. Do not do a single action in this world if you do not have to. This alligator, he does not move or swim or even BREATHE if he does not need to, because he knows that water is the only thing in common with every living thing on this planet. and where there is water, animals will come. So he sits, and he waits and the longer he waits he knows that eventually an animal will come to drink and with one quick movement he will have his food.
He said a few more weird "simple" "just be" comments and then my friends came and took me away from him.
Holyshit, what just happened..
I am thinking simple. My mind is clear. I see what I want. I hear the people talking behind my back, holding me down, but I see what is most important to me right now at this moment and I am walking towards it.
Thank you, Jason Goodman!
