From the Bottom of My Heart

Considering her experience and knowledge (and spotlighted position that day), she could've said so many things that sounded smart. She could've attempted to impress and mind boggle. She could've spoken with boasting security, elegant eloquence, profound idea weaving...

Instead, she caused my eyes to stare in disbelief, my mind to question myself, and my jaw to drop down to my chest. What a lesson!

That wise and experienced woman did not waste her time. She said simple words, she was down to earth, she was honest. She sounded like a little girl! The concept she elaborated on was so uncomplicated, it was easy to miss or dismiss as unimportant. I couldn't believe my ears.

She spoke of how at her advanced age she's realized she's wasted so much precious time in life and urged us not to do the same. The time that's lost is not replaced. She asked us to really live our lives and really take advantage of the wondrous opportunities we all have in our paths. (And reminded us to put more attention on what's most important- our spirituality.) She mentioned that we're usually so stuck on how things look- that she has been stuck so much on how things look, that she has missed living life more fully because of it. She said she admired those who went beyond that without doubting life so much as she has.

O sea, she ran the risk of sounding dumb and unlearned, repeating something we've heard a million times before... and I... with my armored intellect... was thrown off my very known life script. By that very simple communication, by her pleading tone, by that living room chat of a conference, I was touched. It was simply what she was feeling at the moment, regardless of our intellectual expectations.

She spoke from her heart!

That's what I'm missing, I thought. I could discard so many of these unnecessary coats, set myself free of the many how it's going to look thoughts, and simply bare my core, undress my Self, and speak my soul, from the bottom of my heart.