My New Friend Aine nee' A New Writing Goal

Part of my writing break was to come back with a fresh perspective on my Gratitude blog posts.  It was working well as a sort of 11^th step (prayer and meditation) review of my day with a grateful spin to close it out, but I knew I was missing something.  I had considered changing it to a 10^th step reflection on seeing the glass as half-full.   That wasn’t quite what I was seeking either.

Today while reading with the gang at the mall from a collection of stories from the magazine The Grapevine focused on spiritual awakenings, we read a story of a man that changed his deity from being a distant loving higher power to a imaginary best friend that went everywhere with him and that he interacted with on a more peer-to-peer basis instead of an asymmetrical basis.  He (mentally) introduced his HP to his coworkers, chatted with him while riding the bus, and maintained a near-constant contact with his HP.  I really liked that story and the others encouraged me to find a way to make that work for me.

Mike has done something like that by naming the manifestation of his personal HP “Bubba”.  Historically, my names for my HP have been more like labels or characterizations such as The Great Spirit That Moves Through All Things.  I tried thinking of names for my HP.  Not a lot of good choices and not much thinking.   Thanks to the miracle of Google, my new personal HP liaison is named “Aine” which is an Irish goddess of summer, wealth and sovereignty.

My next problem was how to pronounce Aine.  I thought to use rhymes with bane, but was not sure.   Youtube tells me to use Awn-yuh.  I don’t know what I use long-term.  For now I will go with Awnyuh.

Over the last year, I have taken to describing steps 2 & 3 as getting an imaginary friend.  I never had an imaginary friend in my life.   I was always alone—and usually most alone in a large crowd.  Now I have an imaginary friend that is a goddess and will always with be with me.  Her name is Aine! 

This sounds a little out-there even for me.   I read a comic strip yesterday about smart people talking themselves that I can’t find it as anecdotal proof that this is a good idea.  I did find this article from Business Insider Talking To Yourself Really Can Make You Smarter.  There we have it—proof that having your own personal goddess is a good idea!

I am grateful for my new friend and deity Aine.  We have a lot to learn about each other.  Hopefully it will be the relationship of a lifetime.