What have I learned in the past week?
Firstly, I have learned that my online mentor Sadhguru is right pretty much every time he opens his mouth.
The Indian guru’s real name is Jagadish ‘Jaggi’ Vasudev. He is a yoga expert but also focuses on human empowerment and social revitalisation.
Yes, I know: sounds too deep for me – and you are right. But I just like his outlook on life. He is three months older than me and is the ying to my yang.
Plainly put, I find the negatives in most things but, thankfully, he finds the positives and drags me back up.
Before you conclude that I have finally gone off my rocker, there is no money changing hands. Just follow his philosophies, or at least some of them. Have a look at his Isha Foundation website to see what I am on about.
But, in a nutshell, his whole theme is that we come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. So, material possessions are not important. It is what we do in life that is important.
Every day, when we wake up, we should be happy. We should make the best of it.
Get my drift? Well, it is Jaggi’s drift, not mine, but I like it.
This week, I was reminded again about his philosophy, in a strange way.
I have this ‘retirement utility’: it’s 25 years old.
I wanted a Mustang but ‘Old Mate’ wouldn’t let me. She reminded me that I have had my turn, “so get used to the vintage ute”.
It has window winders (not electric buttons), vinyl seats and floor and, more importantly, it is a manual that has no reversing camera or sensors.
I went to Aldi and reversed into a concrete pole because of the lack of those accessories, and it was then I realised that this car is therapeutic: exactly what my Indian mentor is on about.
It is worth nearly nothing and is back to basics but it reminds me how lucky I am.
I love driving it as a constant reminder that the simple things in life are all we need.
The second thing I learnt, on the same day, was that the Aldi shopping carts give your gold coin back when you lock them up.
I was whining to ‘Old Mate’ about how I never use Aldi carts because they charge for them.
She rolled her eyes, explained the process and said: “They walk among us!”
Talk about the simple things in life.
Ashley Robinson is chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball, and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident. The opinions expressed are those of the author. These are not the views of Sunshine Coast News publishers.
