Meditation is a must before you can really love. One should be capable of being alone, utterly alone, and yet tremendously blissful. Then you can love.

– Osho

Whatever I think about Osho, that sentence rings a bell for me. It’s not too far away from what Chris McCandless thought when he went Into the Wild.

Being on your own, meditating, maybe sitting on top of a mountain, might not be everybody’s place of choice. For some it is.

One of Pádraig’s friends has been spending his Mondays at the An Saol Centre sharing his art with us. The art of being. The art of yoga. The art of living. The art of coffee making.

On one of these Mondays, he reminded me that some of the happiest people sit on top of a mountain with their eyes closed.

There is no reason why Pádraig would not have found a place where he enjoys life in his way. Not living the busy, fast, at times very stressful, life. Not living the lonely life of the monk meditating on top of a mountain. But living his own life. With troubles, worries, uncertainties, restrictions. Happy moments, revelations, friendship and love. His own Independence Day.

Why had I never thought about it this way?

It is a curious perspective to look at his and our life. We cannot control what happens to us but we can choose how we react to it. This makes us who we are.

Pádraig was the chilled one. I was busy. In a way not much has changed.

Except that I will try harder to learn from his example.