"I do not like them, Sam I Am."
That is probably the book I quote most often, written, of course, by the genius Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1960. I have read it many times as a child, as a mother to my children, and as a grandmother, than any other piece of literature. And it is great literature. It's a story of active listening. It's a piece about overcoming your own ignorance. It's a tale of allowing yourself to change your mind.
How can you read Green Eggs and Ham and not be affected? How can you read the story and not be changed in some way?
Geisel was pursuing an education as a Ph.D. prepared career as a philosopher in England when he met Helen Palmer who encouraged his art over philosophy. Helen later became his wife. While it’s pretty clear that he combined both his art and his personal and political philosophies in his publications it wasn’t an easy road. I wonder what would have become of the world without Helen listening carefully to who Geisel really was? Would he have had the same level of impact on generations of the world had he had not been nudged into alignment with his truest calling by Helen?
Or did she nudge him off his path? No, I don’t think so. I think she did the right thing.
It’s reported that, after some struggle and hard work, doors began to magically (though obscurely) open for Geisel, though he was only 23 years old when his first national cartoon was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Fame wasn’t instant, however, and becoming a beloved artist and storyteller was a long journey, filled with initial rejection. Chance encounters are what opened doors for him.
It’s in my experience that “chance encounters” are setups by Spirit. Spirit people or energies make seemingly chance encounters available and we need to be awake enough to see them, take them in, let what the encounter holds unfold. Spirit speaks to us in off-the-beaten-path nuances pointing us to open doors and open opportunities.
What have been the “chance encounters” in your life?
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