She was obviously not from Australia and was backing away in a humble but saddening way that made me feel that she didn't see herself as important (or self important) as the suit wearing crowd that were going on their selfish way ignoring all around them.
I don't know if this was chivalry coming out but I couldn't watch this without doing something so I stopped everyone and ushered this woman on to the train. She was taken aback but accepted my offer with a beaming smile that was worth so much more than the simple gesture I'd just outlaid.
Anyway, the moral of this particular story, and where I was getting to at the beginning of this post was that I had an enormous sense of well being from simply letting this woman on to the train. That feeling lasted me a long while and still makes me feel a little warm inside.
Doing something good for someone else really is an easy way to make yourself feel good but also to change someone else's life for the better in a small but valuable way. Think about it, the last time you did something good for someone else, I bet you felt warm and fuzzy. Also, when someone last did something nice for you I bet you reciprocated that gesture in some way for someone else. It's contagious.
Also, in my week of self discovery, I ended up going to the Mind Body and Spirit festival, housed conveniently next to the Motorbike festival. You could easily tell who was going to what..
It's weird though, it's easy to see an issue psychics, clairvoyants, palmists and spiritualists face is one of credibility. Yet when going around from stand to stand you see nothing but stereotypes everywhere... Middle aged men balding but with pony tails dressed in something purple and cloak-like or middle aged women who look like gypsy witches...
I mean if they were all wearing business attire or normal clothing without all this rent-a-ghost garb you might actually find them a little more believable. I'm not trying to knock them because I actually found some of the people I spoke to very interesting.
I did have a very British moment with a spiritual troupe who invited me in to their stall to meditate. I descended back to the ways of the mother country by not being able to utter the words "no thank you" and instead found myself at the back of this stall being encouraged to close my eyes and clear my mind for a few minutes to think about my god. I did ask if I could think of a footballing god instead but that fell on deaf ears. I spent the next 120 seconds thinking of ways I could get out of this situation. It appeared my over politeness had just got me involved in a cult of some description.
Well done sunshine... good work... I kept thinking what I would say to Lena in ten years when I'm found running naked around a field somewhere.... chanting.... She'd ask me... "What were you thinking? Why did you disappear and join a cult?" "I couldn't help it...," I'd say, "I didn't want to be rude!"
I opened my eyes when I thought I'd spent long enough 'meditating' without looking like i'd taken the piss and then went on my merry way. An interesting week!
