There Are No Coincidences.

The hands of Fate draw the world’s portrait – Sunshine.

Four years ago I developed a habit on my daily bus rides to work. Every morning in order to contaminate my mind with positive energy; I look at the people around me and silently wish for good things.

May people tell her how beautiful she looks today…
May that worry be wiped off his brow by lunch…
May she remember everything she learnt in that test she’s studying for…
May his face be imprinted with a permanent smile for the day…
Self-confidence…
An easy morning…
A sunny day…

I call my blessings according to the energy transmitted by each person I see. There is no formula or any particular criteria, I just look at them and try to imagine the blessing that they need the most.
Sometimes I ask for only one or two people.
Sometimes I get around to asking blessings for everyone in the bus… I like the idea of being an undercover angel and I find that whatever positive energy I send out to these strangers; I always get positive energy in return… even if it’s just to manage a genuine smile, on a particularly difficult morning.

Recently, I connected with a piece of writing about a stranger that the author connected eyes with, leaving a curious air of mystery. The familiarity of this connection made me appreciate even more my daily bus rides and I was surprised to find that my big yellow “limousine” will be among the Madeiran things I’ll miss.
What particularly caught my attention about the piece of writing was the author’s perspective and attention to detail. Even though the details we search for in our strangers differ, we both however try and captivate each individual’s aura or personal energy.
Most people I look at on the bus are so engrossed in their own personal thoughts and problems that many are completely unaware of my analytical eye or just about anyone else on the bus but themselves!
Even though I share my ride with a lot of people, on most mornings, I feel completely alone.
I guess I’ve been so busy watching everyone else, that it never occurred to me that someone might be watching me…

But as my dad would say: there’s always an angel watching!

After moving into my apartment, I’ve been taking a specific bus route for over a year. Considering that there are six busses to choose from, I don’t always go on the same bus and as consequence, nor do I see the same people.
Just two weeks ago, I discovered that a woman that belongs to my Sunday’s meditation group lives close by and even though I thought I recognised her, I much quicker assumed that it must be from some other reincarnation than from the bus stop!
I wasn’t the only one who felt the connection, although neither of us could place each other. It was only when I remarked “I look different without my uniform” that she smiled in recognition. I guessed that she must’ve seen me at work or that I was responsible for her mobile phone contract, it didn’t seem important at the time to ask.

Today as I awaited my turn to be taught my personal mantra by a Philippian monk, I sat and spoke to other women searching for evolution. Having no particular place I had to be afterwards, I volunteered to go last and as one person left after the other I found myself alone with the warm face that I now greet with more than a smile when I see her at the bus stop.
She seemed quite excited to finally catch me alone and told me that she had something she wanted to show me for a really long time. It seemed like the right moment considering how the group had just spoken about there not being any coincidences in life.

She told me that she was studying sketching and that she’d been taught that abstract images hold so much more emotion than a photo. So she took her notebook everywhere with her, drawing the things that caught her attention… She wanted me to see a particular picture she drew some months ago…

I smiled.

There on a yellow drawing pad was a picture of me sitting on the bus on my way to work.
There was no mistaking… that was my hair tied up in an imperfect bun, my small hand holding on to the seat, my jacket, my uniform… it was me!
I didn’t know what was more amazing, the fact that this person had chosen to draw me before she’d even gotten to know me or the fact that I was being watched whilst I was watching everyone else.

It’s comforting to know that you’re not alone…
That there is someone out there trying to connect with you too…
Sometimes, it’s only moments shared by strangers…
Some moments turn into a lifetime connection…
And whether these connections last moments, days, years or even an eternity…
They are to be lived with an open heart and all the intensity of life within them.
It seems that life knows the right moment to introduce us to the right (or wrong) people in our lives and it is what we do with that connection that makes all the difference…

Coincidences?... I don’t believe in them.