They went looking for it
Recently Ann and I were talking with Dave and Cathy Beck about their time together in California. As we spoke they related stories about how much they enjoyed the days when they would set out on a search for some item, generally for a project Dave was working on.
The object of the search would be different each time . . . in their telling of these search days there was palpable relish for the process — for the ways they would wind around town, the off-beat paths they would take, and for how often they located exactly what they were looking for.
The ultimate find involved a most unusual item a client of Dave’s sought: the back portion of a sailboat. To be mounted on a wall and finished off for display.
OK, imagine this, your client has requested a very specific, unusual thing that doesn’t exist naturally in the world, and you set out on a mission to locate it. And then you do, lah di dah, there it is.
Finding it
Dave came across exactly that! In the midst of a bunch of trash and debris, there it was — not a full sailboat that would need to be sawn off/sheared off/dismantled — no, it was what he was looking for, and only what he was looking for, the back portion of the sailboat.
What are the odds?! I’ve never seen the back half of a sailboat in my life and I grew up on and around the water in Florida — not without being attached to the front half — and probably neither have you, and certainly not Dave and Cathy. But they went looking.
This of course brings to mind David Langley’s search for a specific tome of erotica in Paris (not as easy as you’d think, if you haven’t read the post).
It also brings to mind anything you’ve sought that has come to you as much as you’ve come to it . . . .
Desire in motion
The commonality is simple: They went searching for it! You went searching for it!
I’ve gone searching for it and have found it too. I’m not referring to those dubious adventures in youthful love-lust where alcohol may have been the more magical factor — though those times count too. It all counts.
Every time we go looking for something unique — and find it — it confirms this proposition: That if you want it, you must seek it. You must set out for it. You must act as if it is possible to find it. You’ve heard of chance encounters on airplanes, elevators, in unexpected locations, where someone encounters exactly the person needed for the next decisive leap on their dream journey.
Setting yourself in motion sets the object/desired result in motion too. Before Meetup.com there was Meetup.Universe, and it was just as elegant a way to make it happen . . . . Luckily for us Meetup.Universe never, ever stops working on our behalf, as long as we’re working on our behalf.