Downtime

Very odd day today. Felt very reflective after all the crap that was spinning around in my head when I went to sleep last night (see the last 2 posts); went out to grab lunch and it was nice out (yes, I do categorize temperatures in the high 40s as nice out), so I walked over to my Thoughtful Spot: Bethesda Fountain, with a brief stopover in Strawberry Fields. Sat out there for a few hours in the sun and shade, watching the tourists come and go and thinking thoughts in the most thoughtful way possible. When I was done there I walked back to 72nd and Broadway, and I was thinking of stopping by the Barnes & Noble down at Lincoln Center (the one I usually go to), but I felt like walking some more so instead I walked uptown towards the 96th Street station. Stopped into the Barnes & Noble on 80-whatever it is and flipped through some astrology books. And on the end of the shelf directly opposite where I was sitting is this pile of books on Tibetan Buddhism, this one being the one at eye level. It catches my eye; I keep flicking through the astrology books with the intention of grabbing that one and flipping through it when I'm done. I do so, and the first page I turn to, the first paragraph I look at reads:

"For Tibetan Buddhists, because karma affects everything, there are no chance occurences. It is no accident, for example, that you are picking up this book. As you read this sentence, all of your past actions, your present thoughts, as well as your intentions for the future have brought you to this specific intersection of your life where you have opened a book talking about a timeless way of life that was first introduced in Asia some 2,500 years ago."

Sold!

On a more serious note, I do like to believe in the underlying sentiment of the paragraph. It just feels right to me. I like to believe that there are reasons why you meet people when you meet them, why they are a part of your life for periods of time and then not and then sometimes they come back into your life, and why sometimes you don't meet people when you want to meet them - it's because you are or aren't meant to at that time, for whatever reason...because you're not ready, because they're not ready, or maybe just because.