Memos From The Universe

Memos From The Universe – an Introduction

Once upon a time, there was a particular word that served as an instant reminder of my then-boyfriend. Bonus: a graphic image that represents this word would also remind me of him. Even long after the relationship had ended and everyone had moved on, this word and this image would remind me of him. Time does, however, provide distance from painful emotions as well as perspective. So, instead of becoming filled with teenage angst when presented with the word or the image, I instead gave a perfunctory mental nod toward the past, a millisecond’s worth of acknowledgment, and then almost instantly forgot about it. That old boyfriend had passed into the realm of misty legend in my mind, almost as though it had been someone else he’d happened to. The details were vague and shadowy and I could not really remember, I mean viscerally remember, what it had been all about, what it had been like to be with him and to lose him.

Fast forward 30-ish years – it’s the age of the internet, of instant, mobile connectivity. Enter social media, enter Facebook. Suddenly, everyone is propelled back into relationships from their school years. It was mostly all good – but then one day, I was shocked to receive a friend request from that very same old boyfriend. I was thrown into something of a tizzy – and the prompts started again. That particular word and image started to pop up all over the place, in abnormal quantities. Sometimes, several days would go by between them, but other times they would come fast and furiously, pelting me in rapid succession. They would happen on the street, they would happen while reading a magazine, watching TV, cruising the internet – they happened everywhere.

At first, I thought it was pretty amazing that I’d lived the majority of my adult life not seeing how prevalent this word and this image were in ordinary, daily existence. But after a while, when it didn’t show any signs of stopping, I began to wonder how it was that I HADN’T seen how prevalent it was. I began to think that maybe it WASN’T all that prevalent. Maybe it was particular, very particular – to me, to my circumstances, to my frame of mind.

The first time I began to think of these prompts as communication from someone (or something) was in May of 2009. A friend who lives in another state was vacationing nearby and I went to meet her for lunch at a café. I’d been shopping and literally stumbled over a display full of necklaces emblazoned with this image. Naturally, I had to buy one and I showed it to my friend. I started telling her about the old boyfriend, and about all this stuff that was going on with the prompts. We both soon realized we were pretty much surrounded by them – the prompts, I mean. They were hanging on the walls, mentioned on the menu, made by hand in the next shop over from the cafe…. this cannot be a coincidence, we agreed. I recalled the immortal words of Leslie Hunter, the character played by Ally Sheedy in St. Elmo’s Fire – “I’m beginning to think there aren’t any accidents.”

Pretty close to the beginning of this phenomenon, I’d started capturing screen shots or taking photos with my camera phone whenever it happened. I don’t know why I started doing that – it just seemed like it might be important to make a record of the phenomenon. I was scribing it like a meeting at work, but I really couldn’t tell you why. I did not really understand why all these reminders of him were happening again. It’s not like we’d rekindled our old, broken-down romance or even any kind of friendship at all. The initial “hi how’ve you been” messages had been followed by the same silence that had spread between us over the previous 30-ish years.

As the months wore on and the silence continued, his memory faded, returning once again to the land of legend and replaced by other, more immediate concerns in my present life. The prompts, however, continued at more or less the same random pace. I don’t really remember how it happened, but I began to understand that it wasn’t about him – not at all. It was about ME, about my life. It was not about my past; it was about my future. It was about paying attention, about being mindful. It was communication, sent in a way that was guaranteed to turn my head and capture my attention. They were memos from… someone, something. Call it God. Call it my subconscious mind; call it my “higher self”. Call it whatever you want. I decided to call it “Memos from the Universe”.

Armed with this new understanding, I began to look at the Memos in an entirely different way, and because of this, I quickly became much more receptive to the actual messages they contained. Sometimes the Memo itself is the start and the end of the message. Other times, the Memo ignites inspiration and provokes thought, research and learning that I cannot imagine being led to by any other means.

One of the things I understood early on is that not every mention of this word or instance of the image that represents the word is actually a Memo. Sometimes it’s just a mention, an un-Memo. What we are dealing with, after all, is a legitimate word in the English language. And as images go, it’s pretty iconic in a basic human survival type of way. It is probably one of the first pictures each of us attempted to draw with our first set of Crayolas. I’d bet the farm that during our 4th or 5th year on this planet, most of us created a scribble-gram that was hung proudly on the refrigerator door which included a childish rendition of this image.

Fast forward to now, a year after the Memos started to arrive. This much is clear to me: the Universe wants me to stop walking around unconscious and unaware, insulated from who I really am and what I really want for myself. I’m trying to remain mindful, to practice being aware of everyone and everything that crosses my path as a potential Memo. This is often a challenge. Life can be complicated; there are so many worries, so many details that need our attention, so many distractions. How can we pay attention all the time, vigilant and receptive to all the Memos coming at us? The Universe seems to get that, and is not above the patient delivery of a series of Memos, all bearing the same message, until it is pretty clear that I get it, too.

Long story! But that’s how this blog got started. I decided to start sharing because hey, it’s possible that if the Universe wants my attention, it wants yours too. Consider this an invitation to enter into a dialog – with God, with yourself, with The Universe. In fact, I propose a toast. Here’s to living life consciously, to awareness, to receptiveness, to a deeper understanding of what the hell we’re doing here.

I’m listening.

Are you?

“TheScribe”
Southwest Florida
written May 30th, 2010
published September 21st, 2010

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