A couple of days ago, I (John) bumped my car.

And it did me a lot of good.

Here’s what happened:

On my way to the office,
I pulled over next to the beach to eat my yoghurt breakfast.
I’d normally go for a walk there,
but that day there was just time to eat the yoghurt whilst looking out to sea.
As I’m reversing into a good position to sea-gaze whilst eating,
I see there is a guy on the beach,
with a hi-vis jacket on, staring at me.
He’s really staring.
Like I’ve done something wrong.
I stare back.
As you do.
What have I done? I thought, as he looked quite official.
This is a public beach.
I’ve not done anything.
So I continue to stare,
getting rather pissed off at him continuing to stare too.
Then,
CRUNCH.

A bump with a view…

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… I’d reversed into a lamppost.

Fuck fuck fuck.
And it was his fault, the idiot.
If I hadn’t been staring at him staring at me,
I’d have seen the frickin’ lamppost.

I couldn’t show any of this though.
I pretended as if it hadn’t happened.
I ate some of my yoghurt.
And he stopped staring and carried on, walking a dog, his dog I assume.

Of course I wanted to know about the damage.
But I let him disappear first.
Then got out and had a look – fortunately pretty much nothing.
Phew.

But this really got me thinking.
I like to look into why such things happen –
when something goes wrong like that.

I had been rather activated by the fact that this guy was staring at me.
It had riled me.
It had distracted me.

As I thought back, I actually wondered if he actually had been staring at me at all. 
Had he been looking at his dog playing with something on the beach?
Why was he wearing a hi-vis jacket?
Who knows.
And in the end it was none of my business.

The point is that I’d been too bothered by this guy possibly looking at me.
And, in the end, what’s it to me?
I realised that I need to care less what others think.

It’s always been a theme of F**k It over the years –
Saying F**k It to what others think of us is a key part of feeling freer.

And Mr. Starey Hi-Vis had reminded me that I have more work to do in that department.

So here’s the thing:
In your own life, see what lies behind what happens.
See what message is there for you in whatever happens, even the dodgy things.

What can we learn from everything that’s going on around us,
and from what happens to us.

We can learn simple lessons at a rational level.

And if you’re of a more spiritual bent,
you can see the interconnectedness of things,
and that there are strong messages for each of us in various things that happen.

Me?
My car’s okay and I got a lot from that little experience.
So, thanks for another interesting experience, life.

Ciao and love,
John & Gaia x