This morning I’m writing this blog from the balcony of my parents-in-law's beach house in Skenes Creek. The sun is playing peek-a-boo behind some light cloud cover and I can hear the rhythmic crashing of the waves on the rocks along the shoreline. It's picturesque. It’s what I imagined the life of a writer might be like.
If I travel back in time a few weeks ago there were huge fires in the Otways that had destroyed thousands of hectares of land, livestock and property. Last week there were extreme floods at Wye River, which is 25km up the road from us. If we’d arrived earlier yesterday, we might have got a glimpse of the black hawk helicopters that air lifted all the vehicles out of the ocean.
Driving over the Otways yesterday we passed an abandoned camper van on the side of the road after a massive tree fell during the storm and completely destroyed the back end of the vehicle. No one was hurt, which is extraordinary when you see the pile of torn metal heaped on the side of the road.
All of these extreme weather events are a great reminder that we have little to no control over what happens to us. This morning I get to enjoy a warm day with the sun shining down on me but this time last week I would’ve been getting smashed by a mad easterly wind. It makes you appreciate being in the right place at the right time.
Being in the right place at the right time is a skill I’ve been working on and it's intrinsically linked to gratitude. When you practice gratitude, you create the optimal conditions for ‘right time, right place’ moments to occur. Last week I had a client meeting in the city. I was catching the train from Brunswick afterwards to meet Matt and the kids for lunch and was a few minutes early for the train.
As I stood around admiring all the new buildings that's gone up since I was last there, a lady walked past who looked kind of familiar. It took a second but my brain finally recognised that it was a very old friend of mine, Mira. Now I haven't seen Mira for 14 years at least (minus one brief moment at a gig some years ago). She was one of my closest friends at a time when I needed the sisterhood to rally around me (breaking up with my long term NZ BF). We were inseparable for the best part of a year and then things changed and our paths un stuck again. No particular reason, just the ebb and flow of friendships.
To see Mira at this random train station on this random day was the best ‘right time, right place’ moment I’ve had this year! And I’ve already had lots, like this moment right now, writing this - however my father-in-law has got the chain saw out which has changed the vibe ever so slightly. Mira was on her way into the city for a meeting so we traveled in together and caught up on each other's lives.
It was a wonderful, serendipitous moment that I’m incredibly grateful for. We’ve reconnected and are planning to catch up again soon. Without sounding like a wanker I honestly believe that this moment occurred because I expect amazing things to happen to me. What I’ve spent the last 10 years perfecting is making sure that everything is either good news or a good story - I’m constantly redefining my definition of ‘amazing moments’. This morning it was the sun on my face. Tomorrow it might be the view I get when I walk to the top of the hill behind the beach house.
Like exercise, the more you do it, the stronger you get. The more I believe that great things will happen to us, the more likely great things will happen. Mira is just the perfect example of living in the present moment (god - imagine if I was looking on my phone and missed her! which is what everyone else on the platform was doing!). You have to keep your head up and eyes open all the time and pretty soon you’ll discover that you’re always where you’re meant to be.
