Those wonderful moments
“The most wonderful thing in the world is to see a new day.” Maxim Gorky (1868 – 1936), Russian raconteur, revolutionary and playwright
I have a habit that may seem a little strange to you, I think – at least at first sight. Some might call it a quirk. No matter. It goes like this. I always carry – and I have to emphasise at this at this point that I do mean always – a few dry white beans in my pockets. What, always? Oh well, OK, I have to admit that I don’t go to bed with the beans. So I take my emphasis from above back – I carry the beans around with me all day. Forgive me.
Do you have a similar habit or quirk? Do you carry something on you every day? In your trouser pocket or jacket pocket, in a separate pouch – or hidden in a locket? Mind you, I’m not talking about jewellery or any kind of trinket.
Nor am I interested in memories. We don’t want to get sentimental. Although remembrance certainly plays an important role in connection with my beans.
Oh and by the way – you can, of course, use dried peas instead of beans. Or semi-precious stones. Or pebbles from the beach. Or, or, or... Just take whatever you fancy that fits in your pocket. It doesn’t matter what it is that we carry around in our pockets. Nor does it matter how many we carry. Although you’ll need more and more of them once you get a taste for them, I tell you.
“Let the song of the water take up your sorrows and carry them down to the sea.”
I can no longer leave the house without my beans. They’ve long since replaced the smartphone as my favourite take-along. Forgive me for having a little dig at the 21st century. There’s no doubt that the present constantly produces good things. Others can argue about that better than I can.
I, on the other hand, think that not everything has to be shown, measured, scientifically founded or even proven. Of course, this is my completely subjective opinion.
Please allow me the liberty of allowing myself to carry my beans in my pocket. It wasn’t always easy, believe you me. Have courage. Stand by yourself. Trust your feelings. Because, believe me, your feelings alone are the measure of your happiness.
Are you on my tracks? It’s not a talisman. Sure, such a small object with the property of bringing luck almost by magic attributed to it is something wonderful, something indispensable for some of us, yes, something almost talismanic. But who among us would openly admit to believing in such hocus-pocus? But my – pardon – our beans have nothing in the least in common with hocus-pocus.
The German journalist and writer Christian Morgenstern (1871 – 1914) believed that “making the self-evident heard all over – that’s a great secret.” Yes. The self-evident!
Every bean that moves from my left pocket to my right pocket in the course of a day symbolises something beautiful that I encountered. When I take them out of my pocket in the evening these wonderful moments reappear before my eyes.
The French novelist and essayist Marcel Proust (1871–1922) wrote: “Let go. Sit by a stream and just be there. The song of the water will take up your sorrows and carry them down to the sea.”