2 February 2008

It is freezing in Hong Kong.


Ok, so, it’s not literally the temperature at which water freezes, but it IS 8 degrees Celsius- apparently the coldest it has been here in several years. The rain and humidity make it feel colder than it is, too. It is cold enough that with every exhale outdoors, I see my breath float out in front of me.


I’ve just returned home from an afternoon at Brunch Club, a cozy café/bistro, with a college friend. It’s a popular spot – particularly on a rainy Saturday – in Soho on Peel Street, which is where I live. It’s just a quick three-block walk up from my flat (I love the convenience of being able to walk everywhere). We waited outside for nearly an hour to sit down, staring hungrily through the French doors at three tables with a combined sixteen people, all of whom were finished with their meals, blissfully unaware of us shivering in the cold. Ironically (or maybe karmically), after scoffing at their selfish social behavior, we ended up sitting at our table for six hours. (*insert sheepish shrug here.) A cozy spot indeed: the walls are lined with reading material, there is free wi-fi, and the wait staff does not rush anyone out. Patrons are invited to sit back and relax, and we did just that…ordering breakfast items, lunch items, milkshakes, and coffee. A total of seven of us came and left our four-person table during our time there. It’s how things flow in Hong Kong...people walk by, drop in, come and go.



My friend was my big bro in our business fraternity at UCLA (yes, I was in a business fraternity; it’s funny, I know), which means he took care of me when I joined, helping me feel comfortable, giving me advice, and sharing his own experiences. I looked up to him. He was the nicest big bro I could have asked for, and being a fellow Aquarius (his birthday is just one day after mine), we’ve always gotten along quite easily. He’s been in London for the past few years and plans on staying there for the foreseeable future. I realized today that I followed in his big-brotherly footsteps when I moved to Hong Kong.


Everyone, everything, every moment, every thought, every breath affects us, at some point, to some degree, whether we recognize it or not. There is an incredible, inconceivable order to the apparent chaos of bits and pieces that comprise our lives. And the Universe/God/Big Mind constantly offers signposts of comfort that everything is unfolding precisely as it should be. Oftentimes we digest these signs as coincidences or serendipity or kismet; I personally think déjà vu is part of the phenomenon as well.


"Synergy." *insert that funny hand movement Topher Grace’s character does in the film “In Good Company” here (PS you ought to watch it if you haven’t yet).


Even if we just take, for instance, Peel Street (where I live, in case you weren’t paying attention above). My cross street is Hollywood Road (I came from the Los Angeles area), around the corner is a store that sells statues of Buddha (including a (necessarily) scaled-down replica of Thailand's Reclining Buddha, my favorite Buddha statue in the world; he sits front and center in the main window so I pass by him every day), one block up there is a Buddhist altar, the studio where I practice is a five minute walk away (I've always wished I had a studio close enough to walk to), and one of my closest friends from college has been living on this same street for three years (unbeknownst to me when I first moved in). I take all these signs as confirmation that I am exactly where I should be.


A few of my friends will remember that in the month before I left California, I said I had a feeling I would end up in Hong Kong. It didn’t make sense to any of us, as I’d never been here before, I’m not Chinese, and I’m not a big city kinda girl (rather, I've always wanted to live on an island, although unbeknownst to me at the time, Hong Kong actually is an island). But my intuition – which I’ve become more strongly connected to through my yoga practice – was telling me that Hong Kong was to be my new home, and it was absolutely on spot.


As time passes, I realize more and more that my present moment is my dreams made manifest. There are countless points of perfect synchronization between my life as it is and what I've always wanted. Everything from living in Asia, on an island (I am an Aquarius – the Water-Bearer – after all, and therefore love being near water) (and you might remember that I think I was a mermaid in a past life) (not to mention that my boyfriend is a diver, who I believe found me in the ocean in that past life), on Peel Street... To teaching yoga abroad (which was an idea that came to me during my very first Teacher Training)... To even the smaller things like telling my friend back home that I had a student last week that looks like her, and that student showing up in my very next class... Or seeing the Manulife building in Causeway Bay for the first time yesterday morning, and meeting someone last night who works in that building.


Synergy.


Thoughts become things, per the law of attraction (you’ve seen or read "The Secret", right?). Whatever you want to call it, the truth is that you create your own life…every piece of it. I believe this is what is meant by destiny, what is reassured by moments of déjà vu, what is signified by coincidences. Know it, own it, have faith in it.


And as Sister says: Manifest, manifest, manifest!


PS I kid you not, I had déjà vu whilst writing this to you.