Last Sunday I read The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer. The book recommends keeping an open heart in all situations even when the situation seems to be going against you. By staying open you will see the situation for what it is rather than viewing it through a distorted lens of someone who has been hurt in the past and is operating from a closed heart. It made sense to me.
The following day while driving home from work I remembered I needed potatoes for a fish pie I planned to make for dinner and so I stopped at the Aldi shop in Ballyphehane.
Half way down one particular aisle where you can find anything from skiing underwear to bird feeders, I noticed two women discussing a rugby top. One of the women was short with long black hair, the other was a tall blonde; both seemed to be aged in their forties.
A few minutes later with my trolley full, I headed to the checkouts. After I unloaded my stuff on the conveyor belt and popped a divider at the end, I noticed that the customer in front of me was the small dark haired lady I had seen earlier. Just then her friend squeezed in behind me and with her arms laden with two bottles of wine, three bottles of tonic water, two packets of biscuits and a rugby top she reached across the belt and attempted to pick up a divider from the slot. With her arms full it wasn't easy and as she fumbled to wrest one free, the cashier asked her what she was doing.
The woman quickly reassured him, "Oh, we are together but I want to pay for my stuff separately."
The cashier looked at me. I shrugged reminding myself of my new mantra, 'Open heart, open mind.'
As the cashier checked through the bottles of wine he looked up at the woman and said, "You have ID to show you're old enough to buy this wine?"
She didn't answer.
When the cashier was finished the woman handed him her credit card. It didn't work. She asked could she sign for it. The cashier agreed but repeated that he still needed to see her ID. She produced her ID. The cashier was satisfied. All was well.
The woman then turned to me and said, "Sorry for delaying you."
I smiled back and said, "No problem."
The woman then scooped up the bottles and biscuits and went to leave.
I called her back, "You're forgetting your rugby top."
The lady turned back to the till and looked at the rugby top.
"Would you like a bag?" I said.
"Oh, I couldn't possibly take one of your bags!"
"It's OK, I've got loads."
The woman dumped everything back on the belt. As she filled the bag, she explained, "I live in Australia you see, and bags over there are free. In fact, I don't even know how you go about getting a bag in Ireland."
The cashier answered her, "There are under the counter, you have to pay."
I laughed.
The woman turned back to me, "You're laughing at me, aren't you?"
I laughed again.
The woman left. Her friend had already gone ahead.
As I pulled my trolley around to the front of the till the cashier whispered, "You are a nice person."
I whispered back, "I'm learning."
Walking across the car park, I saw the small lady with dark hair driving towards the entrance of the car park yet her friend was walking towards me holding my bag in the air. She folded the bag several times into a hand-sized lump and stuffing it into one of my bags of shopping said, "I was only trying to buy my friend and her husband a bottle of wine and some things for her children." She paused and then patting me on the arm said, "Well, at least I made you laugh." And she walked away to catch up with her friend.
This open heart stuff is great: you get to meet such interesting people.
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