Today I went to museum of the mind. What a fascinating place i had never been there before. Yesterday I had driven past and saw a blue sign on the gate. In neat print it said Museum of the mind, open Wednesday 10 to 12.30pm. I had an overwhelming feeling I needed to visit.

I had barely entered the building when an older man with kind eyes came to speak to me. I had the feeling I knew him well. His eyes in particular looked so familiar.

I said I feel I know you from somewhere, but I don’t know where?

He told me how he had worked at Stoke Park mental hospital. I said how I had became interested in mental health. About my work with homeless.

He said how fascinating it was to talk to me. I felt like I was like talking to someone I had known forever. I had no clue who this elderly man 👴 was.

We had cup of tea and and a long conversation that could have continued for hours but realising the time and that I had not yet seen the museum, i thanked him and continued on my tour of the building.

It was an amazing place that blew me away. I could have stayed there for hours. Opening times were restricted, it only opened for 2.5 hours.

I knew it was time to leave when i could hear staff saying their goodbyes. i approached the man to say goodbye. My meeting with him had felt significant. I wanted to thank him for his time…..

As he looked at me.. BOOM.. in my head i heard “his name is John”.. like a doorway was opened I suddenly knew who he was. A man who 30 years earlier had dark hair, I thought at the time he looked like Mr Rigsby from Rising Damp. I had not seen this person for 30 years. He was the manager of the team in youth homeless where i worked as a teen 1985-7. This was my first real job. I remembered his name, what he smoked, his life he talked about from 30 years ago, As vividly as if he had told me 10 mins earlier. I remembered our work together.

Back then there was no duty for homeless people. There was no central housing register. We had to apply to each individual housing association. A long task. There was no safeguarding. No joint agency working. Little rules or regulations. Part 7 of the 1996 Housing Act of course did not exist. We worked from our heart as a team.

We would leaflet houses in the area. Walking the streets to see if we could get a room for someone in their house. There was no other provision. Only what we created.

But… i had no time to talk further. The museum was now closing. I said my goodbyes and he said please do come visit us again soon.

Yesterday i was questioning my work…. how operating from my heart sometimes gets me into trouble.

Today I remembered who I truly am. Why I do what I do.

Synchronicity is it really is a wink from the universe when you need it most?