Dear friends, a question to you, if I may.
How does an introvert announces a personal discovery?
As you have already noticed, I am an introvert. I like to be by myself, read, listen to Rumi poems recited, contemplate nature, meditate, drink coffee (and tea) and then write. I have followed this recipe for happiness for a very long time. I ecstatically wrote stories and poems of angels wondering through the world. It all went well until one day when inspiration says something different: "here's an easy tool for your kids as you asked. Now go out and give this to people". But I hate to talk about myself in that way, saying "I've done this and that and now I do this". In short, I am not a big fan of the concept of "selling", perhaps because I am not a great "buyer", although I have bought a concept or two along the way. Simply put, I just don't believe in anything "from outside of me" anymore. I just want to write stories and poems. But what if some people may benefit of my discovery, in the same way I benefited from others' tools and methods?
So I had to find a way to pay forward what inspiration has offered me. No easy task for in introvert. I had to step out of my comfort zone and publish my most intimate and precious insights. In the back of my mind was always that "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matthew 7:6
To whom, then? Well, I said to myself, we'll just have to wait and trust and see. It turns out a few people have shared with me that what I write resonates inside and gives them more clarity, more strength. A few is good enough for me. Even one would have been enough. So I continued writing as inspired. As long as I don't have to explain or debate or hear any "suggestions" or "comments" to my flow of inspiration. "If you like what you read, take freely with you; if you don't, well, try seeking some place else" was my philosophy. I cannot make everybody happy. Or can I?
I started out on this road of "happiness keys seeking" from a desire to help people I care for dearly. I was eighteen and my mother asked me what field of study I'll choose for college. I meditated and clearly realized what I wanted was to understand people's minds and hearts better and help them find happiness. I wished that mostly for my mother. So the path became clear. I chose psychology. Although it wasn't possible to finish my college education, I continued studying on my own. A better wider older wiser (although quite dogmatic) field of study was spirituality. I continued studying natural healing in college. But I had to discover what method actually works in real life, making it better in some way, and what is just ... beautiful stories and cool stuff. So I started putting to the test of real life all methods I found that resonated with me. I used my own life as a testing ground. I tested for more than twenty years (I was twenty years old when I set out with my husband in the big wide world; I am forty now).
Now, to make a long story short, as you may imagine, I learned a thing or two. Naturally, during my testing period I continuously tried to share with those around me the health and happiness benefits of various methods I was testing (mainly bioenergy healing, nutrition, reflexotherapy, traditional Thai massage, Ho'oponopono, Eckhart Tolle's "power of now", homeopathy, tibetan meditation, Esther and Jerry Hicks teachings of Abraham, christian Bible teachings, native american traditional native teachings).
To make the story even shorter, continuing with perseverance the process of separating what is real and good and necessary of everything else, redundant, obsolete or esoteric and dogmatic, I realized what I have now on my hands a pretty well built simple basic no-nonsense for-everybody-to-use-everyday tool for happiness.
101 Basic Simple Practical Manual
Art by Jean-Luc Bozzoli eyewithin.com
Now, of course, I am going to share it. How? I'm going to share it in the same way I have been sharing before: write. Except now, another stretch outside my comfort zone presents its demands. I, the dreamer introvert me, must talk to people. Even more so, I must listen people's questions, comments and remarks. I must, because they are the ones who will learn to use my tool in their daily lives. Them, the real people, must benefit.
So, my question to you, dear loyal followers and supporters, how do I do that?
How do I ask people to test my tool and send in all their questions and troubleshooting?
How do I become a little more ... social?
Just a little bit. And soon. I already feel my spirit moving on to the next best thing, slipping into that lovely "being in love with life where everything is Rumi's poetry" state of being where nothing really matters, not even a heart inspired vision.
Andreea Garden, September 2016