The best showers in the world

I spent a day and a night last week in the desert.  I always go to the same place and it always works its magic on me. I slept outside and fell asleep watching the stars. Although the daytime temperatures are already relatively uncomfortable, the night is cool and refreshing. Rashid, my friend who owns the place, had told me before that he would not be there, so it was a lovely suprise to find him there after all and have a proper catch up. We drove back together through an amazing thunderstorm, the sky lit up with lightning and water falling buckets from the sky. Very unusual for this desert country.

What I actually want to tell is that in my friendship circle, the bathrooms in the camp are known as 'the best showers in the world'. They are seperate from the sleeping huts, spacious, and are open to the sky. It is such a great feeling to be standing under the water with no roof above you.

There I was towelling myself off, when I spotted a small grasshopper who was desperately hopping around trying to get out of the enclosed space. I opened the door and with my towel gently tried to coax it in the right direction. Of course instintually it moved in the opposite direction. I then resorted to a good few firm sweeps of the towel to finally get it out through the door. It sailed away free into the morning.

I wondered if the universe doesn't do this to us sometimes; first it tries to coax us subtly in the right direction and if we don't listen, we then have to endure some discomfort and a couple of swift slaps to get us going on the path of our freedom and bliss.

May our ears be open to the soft voice in our hearts encouraging us to make the right choices today!