What can you learn from a man named Dean?

I have been in the US for the last two months, spending most of that time with my father. Even though there are many inspiring things to tell about what I’ve learned so far, I have decided to dedicate this month’s message to a man named Dean.

Dean lives in the same community as my dad, and he is not like anybody else I’ve ever met before.

About 30 years ago, he told me, he got hit by a car, which resulted in the damage of more than half of his brain.

Ever since this accident, Dean has lots of trouble remembering things. It seems like stories of any kind somehow remain most in his memory, but all else (like names, places, facts, or even what he did 5 minutes ago) is hard for him to pinpoint.

He spends his days walking around the community, going door to door, spending time with different neighbors and doing little jobs for them (like raking leaves, trimming bushes, mowing lawns… but doesn’t take anything in return. He won’t even accept a ride back to his home. This is because, as he explains, he lives a philosophy of “giving,” and not “taking.”

My dad told me that he has seen Dean on a couple occasions just exit a room while someone was talking mid-sentence about other people negatively, or while a person talked too much without purpose to their words.

We had a communal party here some weeks ago, and to be honest, the person I was most interested in talking with.. was Dean!

He didn’t speak so much, but instead added little hilarious comments to what other people were saying, which somehow fit each moment perfectly. Sometimes he would spontaneously start laughing really loud, or make a noise out of nowhere.

He noticed tiny details that others looked over, like a little ant crawling on the railing, or a light reflecting in the glass window, or the tiny hole in my sock that I didn't notice before.

I realized at this party while looking around how “controlled” everyone else was. Controlling their posture, their tone of voice, the specific words they were using, and probably thinking, “how do I look right now; how do I sound?” and modifying that constantly. 

Looking back at Dean, I saw a man completely in his body, taking in every moment, enjoying the atmosphere, allowing himself to be completely who he was and how he was feeling in each moment.

I realized that it is not the things that people say that make a conversation “good”, or a party “fun.” It’s about the energy of the words from the people involved. It’s about their intentions, and the amount of positive emotion behind the words being spoken by each individual.

Questions for this month inspired by Dean:

• What is important to you when you converse with your fellow human beings and loved ones? What topics light up your spirit? How often do you feel like you share these things?

• Do I feel like I am comfortable enough in my surroundings to be my true self? 

• What parts of myself do I feel like I need to control? Do I really need to control them?

I wish you all a beautiful month of November,

Ananda

Monthly Message - October

Hello everyone,

This monthly message will be much shorter because I am living in a location where hurricane Helene hit here in Asheville, North Carolina. 

The last few days have felt like a dream, a very crazy and scary dream, and each morning I wake up and realize that what I remember actually happened.

However, I choose to have these monthly messages always as positive messages because I believe that despite whatever occurs, there’s a reason for it, and that reason will help all people involved in more ways than we can know right now.

After the hurricane went through and the winds finally died down, all of the people in this community (I think we’re around 100 people) were coming out of our houses and into the street. Most of us still shaking from the fear of watching the storm for hours on end.

We saw (and heard) how even a tornado washed through the neighborhood, taking down trees and power lines, some caving in roofs of houses, garages, and carports. 

But we had smiles on our faces, and we weren’t complaining. Jokes were even being made, and I think all of us were just feeling the gratitude of being alive.

The following days were spent with neighbors helping each other in all ways possible. None of us have had electricity, water, or cell service since the storm. If we hadn’t have come together and helped each other, we wouldn’t have been able to have survived this easily without resources. It’s been so beautiful seeing the radiant and kind hearts of people shine through the chaos.

This experience has shown me once again that we as humans are meant to live as a community; as brothers and sisters helping each other, not as individuals surviving for ourselves.

We were never meant to be alone. Living in a time where so many people are so closed off from one another in their own little houses, uncommunicative, and isolated, is a way of life that is very new to the human race. 

Humans have been around for HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of years.

And let me tell you; our ancestors did NOT survive all this time by living like we are today, but by living in communion with the earth and with each other. 

We only have a short amount of time here on this planet and we have to spend it treating our fellow human beings with love and respect no matter what.

I wish you all as always lots of love. May we always remember what is really important in life,

Ananda

P.s. a little squirrel by our house was using his tail as an umbrella :)

The Wisdom of 2 Crochet Chickens

September 1.

Last year while I was living in Florence, I visited a small thrift shop on my way back home from my Italian class.

Even if I don’t buy anything, I always enjoy stopping by thrift stores… For me, they are like little fortune houses: a mixture of things from all origins having the same trajectory of fate and ending up at the exact same place and time.

In the store was a little old lady behind the cash register who said “buongiorno“ to me, and I looked around. After a couple seconds though, I could tell that I probably wouldn’t find anything for myself there.

After a quick look around, I was about to walk back out when something bright yellow in the corner caught my attention. I walked over to it, and picked it up. 

As soon as I had it in my hands, I felt a surge of loving and warm energy pass through me, and I realised that I didn’t want to put it back down!

It was a little basket with two chickens in it, all made of crochet. I couldn’t tell what it was that made me love them so much.

“How much are these? And who made them?“ I asked the little lady behind the counter.

„Umm..,” she said a little surprised, “the basket is.. 5€, and both of the chickens together are 10€. I don’t know exactly who made it, but there’s a group of older ladies that crochet things together and then donate their work to us. We then donate the proceeds to different organisations.”

“That must be one of the cutest things ever,” I thought.

I bought them immediately.

After I paid, I proudly rode straight across Florence with these chickens on the front of my bike and a huge smile on my face.

This story sounds kind of random, but there’s a reason why I am choosing to share this for the month of September.

After having the chickens on my nightstand for over a year now and being happy literally every time I see them, the lesson that I have learned from them is quite clear:

Seeing things that make me feel love and joy makes me feel more loving and joyous.

If we surround ourselves with an environment that makes us feel joyful and gives us energy, our minds will have the space to manifest a future that brings us even more of that. Even if the things that bring us joy are as random as a crochet chicken basket.

Of course it’s not only about the physical belongings that surround us, but also all forms of input that we let into ourselves; the things we hear, see, think, and experience every day. It all has an effect on our spirit.

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Here are some questions for September inspired by two crochet chickens. (Feel free to write your answers down and make a list for yourself):

• Do the objects I daily see and my environment give me energy and joy, and inspire me to become my envisioned future self? (What are the things that make me feel that joy, and what things don't?)

• Do the things I hear and am told each day inspire me, and bring my life positivity and pureness? (ex: social media, television, news, people in my life) .. What does, and what doesn't?

• At what moments of the day do I feel the least connected to myself (i.e. the most stressed)? What am I doing in those moments, and how can I change my life to have less and less of them?

By carefully watching where our heart feels joy and following that, we get closer and closer to living a life where we live more in our hearts instead of in our minds. 

I wish you all a beautiful new month of September and love you all so much, 

Ananda

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