Back in February, I was in London leading a workshop (can’t wait to be back in July for another one.) I spent the whole two weeks there beauty hunting. I remembered one afternoon as I was walking with my husband in Chelsea that I was saying something which ended with the word “love.” I can’t remember what I was saying exactly, and I guess it doesn’t matter, because the word love appeared right then over a doorway.
A pink doorway with the word LOVE written in white above it.
I thought about the person who lived there taking taxis and what they would tell the driver.
“What’s your address, Miss?”
“Love.”
Or having a party and telling people, “When you find Love, you know you’ve arrived.”
Love lives here. And there love was. There was love. What you speak is seeking you.
All these things popped in my head but mostly I thought, “cool f*cking door,” so I snapped a photo and instagrammed it. It did very, very “well.” It got many, many likes.
Which gives me insight into what people are looking for-not that I didn’t know really. I guess it never ends, does it?
The search for love. The amazement at having found it. The knowledge that oftentimes it’s right over our head.
I wondered what kind of personality lived there because I really couldn’t imagine coming home to my husband splattered in pink paint and saying, “Pasti, look what I did. I painted the door pink and wrote LOVE at the top.” (Although while I was away for two weeks in the fall lecturing at Canyon Ranch and leading a retreat, he did in fact paint the kitchen a kind of burnt orange.) Yes, he calls me Pasti (short for Pastiloff.) I am quite fond of it.
After we saw Love, we walked through Notting Hill.
**
Without people you’re nothing. There’s a truth in that.
Right?
Portobello Road, Notting Hill (would you believe I have never seen that movie?)
I stopped and snapped a picture of a painting etched onto the side of a building of a man playing guitar and singing.
The background was yellow and he stood in a sort of relief away from the yellow and red circle with the star inside of it. The quote said, “without people you’re nothing” and then his name and the dates he lived and died. I assumed it was his quote, the guy painted in black and white wore a patch that said Ignore Alien Orders. Joe Strummer, lead singer of The Clash.
I Googled it later and found out that it was indeed his quote.
There’s a truth in the fact that we need people. @JenPastiloff (Click to Tweet!)
I mean, Hey, I love to be alone. More than being with people quite often, which is a mixture of being an introvert (despite leading retreats and workshops, the core of who I am is an introvert,) not being able to hear well, and lastly, the writer in me. (Can’t write when you are in a crowd of people talking.)
But so much of what I teach and what I believe is based on this quote, so thanks Mr. Joe Strummer. Thanks, Joe. Can I call you Joe?
I suppose you could live on an island alone and be fine, for a while. Or, if you like to read, you could be the only one on the planet in a sea of books. But after awhile you’d want to die from loneliness. Truth.
It’s pretty amazing what lies waiting for us once we open our eyes, isn’t it?
I’d love to hear what you paid attention to today. What struck you as beautiful? Post it below, would you?
Yesterday, back in L.A. (where I live when I am not traveling) I taught a class where I asked everyone to write down their “rules to live by.” It’s one of my Manifestation Yoga® exercises. One of the guys in the class wrote this as one of his rules to live by: Look for something that does not appear to be there.
I thought about how that is what beauty hunting is. I mean, love didn’t appear to be there, right then, in that moment on a Chelsea sidewalk, and then suddenly- it was. It was right there.
ps, Beauty Hunting is the title of my book. I am going to NY soon to meet with my agent and submit the proposal and will announce more about it soon. xo
Jen will be leading a Manifestation Retreat in Ojai, California in May and a four day Labor Day retreat. All retreats are a combo of yoga/writing and for ALL levels. Read this Positively Positive post to understand what a Manifestation retreat is. Check out her site jenniferpastiloff.com for all retreat listings and workshops to attend one in a city near you (Dallas, NYC, Seattle, Atlanta etc,). Jen and bestselling author Emily Rapp will be leading another writing retreat to Vermont in October. Jen will be back in London for another workshop July 6 but book soon as the last one sold out fast with a long wait list!
Image courtesy of Simplereminders.com
