Day 8

Happy Valentine's Day! Today's favor was about friendship. I awoke excited and exhausted. Yesterday's favor of delivering flowers for Valentine's was still fresh in my mind and I was eager to return to the shop to collect many flowers to bring to a senior center. However, upon seeing the chaotic scene and frantic flower shop staff racing around to handle last-minute orders, I decided a small bouquet of flowers was a better option. I made a mental note to save visiting a senior center for another day's favor. As soon as I released my need to have the day unfold as I originally planned, a new idea and flower recipient came into my mind and I thought back to my childhood.

As a little girl, I often struggled with bad dreams. In an effort to soothe me and calm my racing thoughts, hopefully preventing nightmares from occurring, my mom bought me several tapes of guided meditation. One tape was called "The Present." I can still hear the calm, steady words echoed by the narrator, "This is a tape about the real meaning of friendship, please listen carefully." The real meaning of friendship?... How often do we set-aside time in our busy days and lives to ponder this simple notion? Usually we create friendships based on needs: our need to have companionship; our need to have someone in our life with similar interests; our need to have someone in our corner; a need to not feel or be alone. What if we welcomed friendships into our world based on a desire to be helpful? How would that shift our perceptions of those in our inner-circles? Would our close friends remain the same or would they change into new faces and new names?

The meditation tape concluded with the following sentiment: a friend is a present you give yourself. Applying and adding the psychological knowledge I learned as an adult; I propose modifying the statement slightly: A friend gives the present to you. Or in other words, a friend reminds you to stay in the moment. I have met such a friend since moving to LA and today I had the opportunity to give back to her in the present in thanks for gently reminding me to live my life in the present. The looks of surprise and joy on her face upon seeing the wrapped bouquet of fresh Valentine's flowers made my day and once again acted as further motivation for me to continue with 32 Favors.