Okay, folks. I am so excited to share this with you! Actually, I can’t quite believe I’m sharing this with you! It’s a longer post than usual, so settle in and buckle your seat belts – there’s magic in the details.
If you’re a regular reader here, you may already know that I whole-heartedly believe pure magic shows up in our lives when we envision it, believe in it and let go of any preconceptions about how it might or might not happen. Worrying and wondering about how something will come to fruition is like placing an order at a restaurant and then asking the waitress 25 times exactly how it’s going to be prepared. She’s gonna get so annoyed that your service is almost certain to be lousy…and chances are you won’t get what you wanted in the first place!
Well, speaking of placing an order…a few weeks ago during the radio show I co-host with Colleen and Joan, an ad ran promoting Deepak Chopra’s upcoming speech in Minneapolis. While the commercials aired, I wondered out loud whether we’d be able to nab an interview with him. My co-host, Joan, asked if we might be able to get tickets to his speech. Sitting across from me, she had a big grin on her face and said, “No, wait! Wouldn’t it be cool to meet him!?” We giggled, knowing that tickets to a reception with him before his speech were selling for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But a girl can dream, right?! And that we did. Joan even thought, wistfully, about what she might talk to him about, should she have the chance to meet him. Then the commercial break ended and we went back to doing the show. We thought nothing more of our imaginary rendezvous with Deepak.
Well, a couple of days later, I got an email asking if we’d want to interview the spiritual and wellness guru. Uh…hello!? YES! Whenever this stuff happens, my body feels like it’s buzzing. Like it’s just been plugged into the vibration of the universe, tapped into that magic I mentioned earlier. I was so pumped! Deepak’s schedule only allowed for us to tape the interview in advance of our show and my co-hosts couldn’t make it into the station. So, it was just me and Deepak. He was lovely and we talked about everything from his grandkids to comedy to the future of the world through his eyes. {BTW, I can’t figure out how to post the interview here, so if you’d like to hear it, go here and listen to the April 2nd show, first hour}
I was a very happy camper – thrilled to have had some one-on-one phone time with him. Before the interview aired, I had emailed our station’s sales director, Sonia, to let her know that if there happened to be any extra tickets available, we’d love to attend his speech. By the time the interview aired, I hadn’t heard anything back about extra tickets. I’d already talked to the guy, so it would have been silly to be bummed about not ALSO getting tickets.
Well, fast forward to late last week. An email came through from Sonia, saying that she’d just received two general admission tickets for us. Whaaaa!? I knew the seats were selling fast, so I was amazed they were willing to give us two. I emailed my co-hosts the good news; it turned out Colleen had plans for Monday night, so Joan and I excitedly accepted the tickets to Deepak’s speech on Healing, Transformation and Higher Consciousness.
Okay, are you still with me? ‘Cause this is where the story gets even crazier! On Monday morning, I emailed Joan to figure out where and when we’d meet before the speech. To my surprise, she sent a note back saying that she was feeling a strong urge to give her ticket to my dad, who has faced some big health challenges over the past few months. In addition to traditional medicine, he has whole-heartedly embraced alternative methods to help him heal; Joan thought Deepak’s speech on healing might be a real gift for my dad to hear. It was a huge act of kindness; Joan owns countless books by Deepak and has even traveled to his Chopra Center for Wellbeing in California, so I knew hearing him speak in person would be a thrill for her.
I called my dad and offered him Joan’s amazingly generous gift. He excitedly agreed to go, we made plans and I hung up the phone. I then checked my email and saw a note from Sonia, asking me to call her immediately. “Guess what!?” she said at the other end of the line. “They’d like to upgrade you and Joan to premium seats.” My heart skipped a beat and my brain tried to make sense of her words. It couldn’t. I told her what had just happened between Joan and my dad. Would the event organizers be okay with my dad coming instead of Joan? Or did I need to take the ticket and give it back to Joan?? Sonia said she’d call me right back.
I waited. Buzzing. So immersed in the magic-making going on that it felt like I might electrically shock the next person I touched! The phone rang. I remember Sonia saying, “You’re not going to believe this!” She went on to tell me that the people bringing Deepak into town and organizing the big event were so touched by our story of kindness and healing that they wanted ALL THREE OF US – me, my dad and Joan – to come MEET DEEPAK at a reception before the speech. And, as if that’s not enough to take your breath away, they had also moved seats around and upgraded me and Joan to the second row and my dad to the first. Can you even stand it!? It defies all logic, right?! I had to hold back tears. A couple of hours later, there we were, shaking our heads in amazement, standing in the reception room Joan and I had half-joked about being in just weeks before. Deepak was reserved and quiet and kind. After the reception, we took our seats with 1800 other ticket holders. And we were at the very front, a few feet from Deepak during his two hour speech. Oh! And for those of you who get a kick out of my affinity for the number of 11, it was not lost on me that my dad was sitting there in front of me in Row 1, Seat 1 on April 11. Just one more playful cosmic nudge to let me know that the power of intention is alive and well and magic is, indeed, so very real.
