I’m sitting, eyes closed, on a cushion on the floor with nine of my fellow seminarians as we are in the final half hour of a five day exploration of our livelihood and place in the world.  This workshop has taken place in one of my favorite locales and by now I am softened, open and happy.

Our skilled facilitator (Susan Bernstein, Work from Within) is guiding us through a meditation where we imagine ourselves launching into space and traveling through time.  When we land it is five years in the future and we are greeted by our future selves.

There I am, forty-two years old, smiling and welcoming me with a warm hug.  This woman understands me like no one else.  No words need be exchanged, she knows my journey and she’s here to show me that all is well in the future.

We find ourselves on a cliffside vantage overlooking the Big Sur coastline.  The view is grand, Future Me’s connection to the land is strong.  Jeb is there, too.  Now twelve, he is happy, quiet and present.

We walk to a bench and I sit in the middle with pre-teen Jeb and Future Me on either side.  Future Me puts her arm around my shoulder and I feel her deep understanding and encouragement.  Real-time tears move down my cheeks in the full experience of this meeting.

Our group is guided through this exchange and we come to a point in the meditation when we ask our future selves if they have anything to give us.  Future Me presents a piece of Big Sur jade in the shape of a heart.  She reminds me that anything is possible.

Our facilitator eventually guides the group back through time and space to land on our cushions in 2010.  The workshop is over and we share our goodbyes, each traveling in our separate ways.  I’ve arranged to spend a night in Big Sur, where my little room has everything folded in an accordion-like fan style:  the toilet paper, the tissue, the washcloths and hand towels.

It’s early evening and I’m across the street from my hotel room, browsing through a shop full of gemstones.  There is a case that features jade but most of it seems to be from other places.  The woman at the register speaks limited English and is in the process of closing the store.  I ask if she can help me find the jewelry made from Big Sur jade and then debate on purchasing the pair of earrings that she shows me.  I decide to get them and as she wraps them up, I notice a bowl full of raw chunks of jade at the counter.  I begin to sort through the rocks thinking I’d like to have a few small pieces to give as gifts.

As I’m sorting I hear her speak in a thick accent, “I think this is for you.”

I look up to see that she has reached into her pocket and is holding a smooth dark green stone in her hand.  Though it is hard to understand her words entirely, I gather the following: she was walking on the road that day, looked down and saw the rock.  She realized it was a piece of jade and picked it up.

“You found this stone today?” I ask.

“Yes,” she nods, smiling.

“Just on the side of the road?”

“Yes.  I think it is for you.”

“For me?  You want me to have it?”

“Yes.  You like jade.  Is for you.”

I take the stone.  It is soft, the shape of a diamond with rounded edges.  I am amazed.

I thank her profusely and ask for her address so that I can send her a Kauai jade equivalent – the sunrise shell.

Maybe it was a coincidence that on the same day that Future Me handed over a heart-shaped piece of Big Sur jade in some guided meditation, I was gifted that stone from a stranger at the shop called “Heart Beat of Big Sur“.

But I like to think it was the ultimate cosmic wink.  That somehow forty-two year old me slipped jade through the wrinkles of time and space, offering that stone as a reminder.  That anything is possible.  Magic comes in simple moments. All is well and will be well.  Trust.

As I conclude this last day of 2010, I think about the future and what I want to cultivate in the coming years.  I hope to catch up to Future Me and share a laugh.  Though one never knows how long they get, I hope I have 5 more years and then another happy fifty more.

This little tale of jade in Big Sur is already in my past.  And Future Me resides somewhere in a time I haven’t met yet.  Life is a series of present moments and this day is what’s alive.  Today I’ll be packaging up a little sunrise shell and mailing it to a PO Box in Big Sur.

Happy New Year!

Note:  After writing the above words, I went to my suitcase to find the jade and take a photo to accompany this post.  After searching every pocket of every travel bag I simply cannot find it.  Was it all just a dream?  Or, like the chrysoprase stone will it turn up in some random moment?  Gotta love these mysteries.