Patrick – flowing water

We have been placed in lockdown 2.0, and there shall be no mingling for quite some time. These strange times have seen us all forced into taking the pace of life down a notch. It’s like the Gods all conspired against human race and decided to put us all in time out for our shenanigans.

In this new normal where dating someone has become a distant dream, chatting online has really picked up. Must be hard on men who struggle to communicate with words at the best of times!

I e-met this lovely man Patrick Walsh on tinder, who is a firefighter for half the year and spends the rest of his year travelling the world, building spiritual connections. Patrick is studying trauma counselling and spiritual healing, as he wants to be a healer. Definitely not the kind of man I ever thought I would want date, but it sounds like the kind of thing I need to do. I must take the risk of new and different if I want different results! The critical thinking part of my brain needs a rest while I go out to experience life, so I am saying yes to this experience whatever it may be.

We have been chatting for a few months now and he feels like a kindred spirit.

 Hearing him talk is akin to watching water flow in ebbs. Travelers gain a perspective on life that the rest of us commoners will lack forever. I feel travelling quenches the wanderer’s thirst in us all, and that is what attracts me to this man. I lam a gypsy after all, in the quest of all things life!

Patrick through his kind, playful thoughts reminds me daily that life is not all about PnLs and routines. It is also about just letting go now and then and basking in the rare moments of joy and appreciation. We have spent the last few months talking about so many random things from Donald Trump to fears that trigger human emotions; from how good ice-cream is for our soul to how bad self-doubt is for our hearts!

He is a very intriguing person, who absorbs cultural minutia and becomes a part of it with ease. He has travelled to India a lot and loves the country, perhaps a lot more than I do. He recited the Mul Mantra to me when we talked, I didn’t even know what a Mul Mantra is, until he recited it. It is this quintessential Sikh prayer we are taught as toddlers, and I can recite it and even know what it means but didn’t know what it’s called. I did not expect a Caucasian man to teach me about my own culture. He can talk to such obscure cultural nuances from Italy, Cambodia, and other cultures just the same.

He talked me into giving yoga and meditation a go, and it has been great for my mind, body and soul.  

He is also good for my ego, as he reminds me every other day how beautiful I am. The other day I put up a photo of myself soaking up some sunshine and he wrote “you look like the sunshine you are basking in”. Really hard not to like a man who says things like this!