聆聽河馬的聲音
美文共享
作者：by Robin Dake
I had already paid my money， 1）tucked my package under my arm， and was walking out the door when I heard her calling my name. There she was， 2）perched on a small bookcase， among the sofas and lamps and bed frames in the outer room of a local 3）thrift store—a small 4）hippopotamus planter that， I swear， was calling my name.
5）Molded out of light brown 6）clay， her wide feet were drawn up under her thick body， and her head was 7）tilted 8）coquettishly. She wore an 9）impish grin and looked as if she was about to bat her 10）eyelashes to get her way. The urge to take her home was so 11）irresistible that I turned around and bought her immediately.
This was a time of 12）reinvention in my life. After emerging from the fog of post-divorce pain and 13）grief， I found myself intent on revealing the 14）authentic woman inside and honoring her by making decisions on that authenticity. Those decisions were not only the big ones， like what do I want for my life and who do I want in it， but also the more 15）mundane ones， like how do I decorate my house.
The 16）impulse to clean and 17）purge and redecorate after a divorce is so 18）cliché and normal that there are probably several expensive university studies out there which have proven such a fact. However， when I began to make actual decisions about colors and couches and 19）knick-knacks， I found， in order to remain true to my authentic self， I had to be quiet and dig down and listen to what was speaking to me.
I believe in being still and listening for our authentic voice.
I believe deep down， way back， behind the noise and 20）chaos of everyday life， we do know who we are and what we need to be happy and whole. We know the voice that tells us we no longer want to live in 21）dysfunction. We know the voice telling us we deserve to be genuinely happy， and we know the voice that says， “yes， that hippopotamus would look good on my porch.”