precipitation is wet

My head is full of dreams and destiny today. The little things that happen from day to day, it's not until you stop to analyse the unfolding of events when you begin to wonder whether there is such a thing as fate.

I left the house for work at a normal sort of time this morning, and usually when I get to the station I will buy a copy of the Independent. (mainly because they publish 4 sudokus a day). This morning, the papers were late and I had to either go without or buy an alternative paper. I declined, thinking that I could buy it when I got to Liverpool Street. As I got onto the tube train, I reached down to scratch an itch on my knee and discovered a gigantic hole in my tights. In my mind I was annoyed, thinking 'what's going to go wrong next! everything usually happens in threes'.

Arrival at Liverpool Street station. I made a stop at Boots to buy a new pair of tights, suddenly remembered that I had run out of antihistamines and bought 2 packets. I then popped to WHSmith to buy the paper and as a result ended up exiting the station via a different route to my usual routine. As it happened, guys were handing out free tea at this exit which totally made my day. (I am obsessed with freebies) On the way up to the office, my eyes and nose immediately started itching and I was so relieved that I had ended up in Boots to get those allergy tablets.

None of these little events mean that much on a grand scale, but it's interesting to think about how my morning may have started had I not discovered a hole in my tights. Speaking of which, I am absolutely positive it wasn't there when I put them on this morning.
I've also just noticed that on the free cup I got it says this: "Blended to make every day a little better" :)

Now moving onto omens. The play that I saw on Sunday was about dreams, destiny and omens.
The story itself is a bit of a yarn, but it can be inspiring if you open your mind to it. It's about a spanish shepherd boy called Santiago who has recurring dreams of finding treasure at the Egyptian Pyramids. On his epic journey to Africa and across the desert towards this distant goal, he finds contentment, money, and love. Each time he has an opportunity to compromise on his dream and settle for something that he is happy with but he persists. At one part of his journey he loses everything. He learns from this, and in the end it forms part of his success - he reaches the pyramids. Does he find treasure there? No. There is no treasure there, only knowledge. In this story, getting to the pyramids was crucial to finding out where the treasure was really hidden - back in a place where he started.

A cynic would see the irony in this and interpret that as most journeys rarely need to be undertaken as the best place is where you are. I disagree with this. The stark message I got from this was that in order to discover the truth about what you really want, you have to follow your dream to the very end, whatever sacrifices and losses you may have to endure. Life will throw all sorts of obstacles in your way to test your determination to achieve your dream. How much do you really want it? What is it that you really want?

I can draw parallels to this in my life. By pure chance I bought this book. It wasn't recommended to me and I had never heard of it before in my life. I was in a bookshop with a friend looking for something else. I spotted it on the shelf, picked it up and for some reason decided to buy it. I read it and realised that the only thing stopping me from doing what I really wanted was me. I took the first step to changing this.

Months later, life has thrown all sorts of complications at me. At work I am doing better than ever, I have the promise of success, financial reward and security. In love, I have similar choices. Questions I ask myself:- do I want more? what will I give up to get that?

I could say that the re-emergence of this story in itself is an omen. I only found out about it because someone else told me it was playing. In a tiny theatre outside of where I usually hang out, I let myself be entertained by the pantomime presentation of this story that gave me so much to think about.
Perhaps it's time to take the second step.