If You Could Choose Your Neighbors, Who Would They Be?

Yesterday was a really fun day!  I went to Hillsboro, New Mexico and met with Mackie Redd (mackieredd.com/) and his wife Kathy to make the next Jill's Journal video - which I'll share in the next week.  I didn't have much interaction with either Mackie or Kathy before I went, so I wasn't expecting anything, just trusting the day would take care of itsself, and it did!

It started with me getting lost (though I didn't know it at the time) on a dirt road in which I was standing with my dog who got a little stressed and needed a roadside break.  A car passed me, stopped and asked "Are You Jill?"  Why yes I am!  Good thing for me Kathy stopped because I passed my destination and with all the mountains around me doubted any cell phone coverage was an option!

The middle part of the day I'll be showing you soon - but as I left feeling really happy I had met these two very nice and genuine people I had the thought, I would really like them as my neighbors!  Now my idea of neighbors means walking not seeing distance - but that's never too much of a problem in the wilds of New Mexico!

There is such a difference in the sense of community as I travel.  The smaller towns just seem to ooze it - so far I've really felt welcomed and included and safe.  California was never like that - it was mostly about what someone could do for you and if there was nothing, well, why talk to that person?  Everyone was always so busy with something that you never really had time to just sit and chat and enjoy that simple version - not the scheduled two weeks in advance between other engagements.

But the other thing I am finding is that this type of world and life is what I am looking for.  There is the beginning of a sense of finally feeling like I am finding my real home.  California never felt that way.  It was a place to be until I could figure out where to go - that was part of the reason it was okay to walk away from everything I had there. 

I think our neighbors are a good way of symbolizing what we want out of life and are we getting it.  It's not about judging who is right or wrong, better or worse, but rather a way of seeing your self and the life you have created by paying attention to who is around you.

Being out of California I am finding there is much less of that feeling of someone wanting something from me or me from them and more of just deciding who I like being around not really wanting anything.  There is a belief that if we are not striving for something, we are not successful.  But who made that rule to be true?  When did chasing what we do not have become more important than appreciating what we do have?

Often we must lose what we think we want to find what we do.  I am lucky though, all I lost were burdens that I didn't want to find the freedom to find the blessings and the life I do want.

Meeting others who are happy with their lives as they are now, are just the kind of people I want to surround my self with.  Not the sad or sick or angry or victimized waiting for a future that will never make them happy - but the folks who love their lives as they are, now.

Thank You Mackie and Kathy for inviting me to glimpse just a bit of your wonderful life!!!