Part 29: The path least travelled (part 7)

How we perceive a situation to be is often more a product of our beliefs than how it really is. Our thinking can be blinkered by our preconceived ideas as to what an event could mean to us, which often leaves us unprepared for what could happen if we looked at the situation differently.

When we do this, we see that our limited knowledge of the true facts, combined with our past experience, made us create our own perception of the future. This vision of our self-made future causes us feelings of anxiety and fear and that can often lead to seemingly unbreakable downward spirals of negative emotions.

Luckily, on occasion good fortune can smile on us before we give ourselves a chance to wallow in our own self-pity. However, only you can decide if you want to chance your life’s dreams on hope and luck, like so many people do as they play their favourite weekly game of lucky numbers. Or will you shape your own destiny, by crafting the thoughts you choose to think and then taking the actions that will lead you on your path to your own personal treasure?

Previously: Two days into their journey, having met some other travellers and their female companion, our three friends have been separated. Prostremo has gone off with Electra while Preteritus was trying to understand why they had left; Nunco had led the search for them. Having thrown a stone into the trees – which apparently hit Prostremo, who was with Electra – Preteritus and Nunco find the missing pair in a clearing in the middle of the forest…

Staring in amazement Nunco and Preteritus saw Electra and Prostremo intertwined, spinning around the clearing, as though to the sound of a full orchestra.

Prostremo, recovered from being struck by the stone that Nunco had thrown, seemed oblivious to his two friends observing them dancing. He was far too wrapped up in Electra to let anything interrupt them.

“In all my wildest dreams, I would never have thought that something like this could happen, said Preteritus. “I was all worried that Prostremo was really upset with me, and I was wondering what I could do to make it up.”

“It is amazing how things can work out,” said Nunco. “Sometimes when we are preoccupied with what we think we are seeking, we often miss something amazing right under our nose. You probably did Prostremo a huge favour, though we can never be in his mind to know what really happened.”

Meanwhile, as Prostremo whirled Electra around and around the grassy glade, he thought back to what had happened.
The three travellers had been about to tell our friends about their journey and the treasure that they had found, and it had appeared that Preteritus had gone off looking for something.

Prostremo and Electra slowed down and came to rest beside the two friends.

“I guess you want to know how this happened, how Electra and I came to get together so quickly, why we just seem to bond together.” He said. “Do you guys believe in love at first sight?”

Seeing that look on Prostremo’s face, Nunco realised that the pair were indeed like love struck teen-agers! “Go on, tell us all, Prostremo,” he said.

“I really thought nothing of Preteritus running off at first,” said Prostremo “I mean, I felt that maybe Preteritus had forgotten or dropped something back at that stream we had stopped at earlier. It was only when Nunco started running after him that I realised that maybe he didn’t want to hear the story.

“Then it struck me – since Preteritus had gone off, presumably because he did not want to hear the ending, maybe that meant that they weren’t going to tell us what had happened.

“I felt so disappointed, I felt that I had been robbed; it was almost as if the treasure had been put right in front of me and then snatched away. I could even hear all my so-called friends back at home laughing at me, calling me a ‘dreamer’, a ‘man on a mission chasing wild geese’. I felt so ashamed, even humiliated. It was like my whole reason to be had just disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t blaming Preteritus, I was just really disappointed. It’s funny, now, looking back on it – nothing had really changed. If we had not met the three guys and Electra, we would just have continued on our way, none the wiser, still searching for our treasure. But right at that moment, I could not see clearly, I could not even focus, I could think of nothing but despair, until – I looked up – and there was Electra.

“Wow, what an appropriate name this beautiful lady has. I had not even seen or heard her approach me, I was too busy wallowing in my own self-pity! Anyway, there she was looking at me; not staring – just that intent, strong passionate look, with those blue-grey smouldering eyes, that reveal so much of that which still remains hidden deep within her soul.

“I mean, listen to me describing her! But that was not the half of it. I instantly snapped out of my little pit of woe that I had managed to create for myself. I sat up and looked back at her and motioned her to sit down beside me. She sat down a little bit away from me yet almost facing me, with her knees touching mine and took my hand in hers.”

Prostremo stopped speaking for a minute. Preteritus and Nunco could see that he was getting very emotional, which was so unlike the Prostremo that they knew. Meanwhile Prostremo gently reached out his right hand and Electra held it softly between both of hers, slowly caressing his thumb. It was easy to see the depth of feeling between the two of them.

“But I have to continue, because it was the most amazing thing,” said Prostremo. “Do you remember when I just said that Electra’s name was so apt? Well let me just tell you what happened next.

“Just like she is doing now, Electra was holding my hand and looking deeply into my eyes. Then it happened, it is so difficult to describe, it was almost as though there was another physical connection between us – more than our knees and hands – it was like we were connected by an invisible, yet hugely powerful thread.

“My body started to tremble from within. I felt like there was this surge of electricity. It wasn’t just coming from Electra, it was all consuming, it was inside me, around me – but most of all, it was completely connecting me to her. My heart felt as if it was going to explode and I just had to lean over and kiss her – you don’t mind me telling them this, do you dear?

“Why would I mind?” answered Electra in a silky voice. “I found you didn’t I? Actually we found each other, really. I saw you sitting there looking so dejected, when your friend Preteritus ran off, I just had to go over to you – but then you looked up at me and I realised what had happened – why we were meant to be together.

“I have been travelling with these three men for quite some time now. Admittedly I met them after they found their treasure, but I knew deep down in my heart that there was a reason behind it all.

“Everywhere we go in life there are signposts showing us the way, but they are often written in a language we choose not to understand. I now feel my eyes have been opened, and I can help all of you on your journey, but first I must share with you my own story…”


To be continued next week

peter@3r.ie