Found and Bliss : Books Bind Us and Change Us

I spotted this gentle little reminder as I walked this morning. Finding quiet is something you seek. It doesn't just appear, it is not given to you. But if you search for it, it is there.

A young man was sitting under this tree, and it is only as my walking partner and I approached did I see that he was reading a book. He sat still. He did not look around, he was not distracted by all of us walking by.

I wondered what he was reading. I hoped.

Something life-changing?

Philosophy?

Something deep?

Some minutes later as we returned up the same path, we saw him making his way from under that (Bodhi?) tree. He happened to join alongside us as we walked along the ridge overlooking the water below.

I took a photo of you, I said, you looked like you were meditating about something.

Yes, he replied.

I hope it was mindful, I queried. He smiled. He was not put off by a complete stranger questioning him. It's as if his thoughts were still trapped between the pages he had been reading. (Tweet This)

He tightly clutched his book, he did not reveal what he had been engrossed in. He just calmly smiled.

The book he needed today, his secret still, his moment.

I too have had those moments, I too have leapt into a book, either with confidence or fear of what it held for me. Not knowing what it might say that I needed to know, because one day I would hear more than words.

Could he have been reading, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control? A book I found so valuable that it could change your life?

Or could it have been Following the Wrong God Home which I read so many years ago and had a profound affect on how I saw the world?

I hope I captured his moment of change. I hope that he realized that the universe had let me witness his learning. When slowly or suddenly, things are just a little bit more clear. (Tweet This)

Because that's how change happens, whenever we are ready to hear it and accept it. The Last Arrow , another piece of wisdom which prompted me to continue sharing my words at a time when I questioned their value.

Books bind us together. How easily we can chat with a stranger we see on the bus who is also reading the same book. Or recommend to a fellow browser in a store the recent title of one we enjoyed.

We need to hold our book close, like the young man I met, and then to share when we are ready.

Now tell me, which book changed what you knew about yourself and the world around you? (Tweet This)

Stay well, stay safe.