Contributing Writer: Misako Lauritzen
Life is a succession of encounters. As we are going about our ordinary day, we are always passing by each other. We may not "meet" in a formal manner; however, we have sensory and emotional experiences of each other which affect us in the subtlest of ways.
Have you ever been cut off in traffic, got served by a surly waiter, or got yelled at by strangers? How do these encounters feel? Do they affect your mood? Sure they do, but we try to desensitize ourselves. We tell ourselves that these things happen and that they are not that big of a deal. We brush them off, because, if we let them get to us every time, we will not be able to leave our house and survive day in and day out.
A magical thing happened to me last week. I was in a line at a cashier at my favorite supermarket. When my turn came and I was searching inside my wallet to pay, a person at the cashier asked me out of blue.
"What was the most beautiful thing that you saw today?"
I had to think for a moment. Then I told her the most beautiful news that I had heard that day was two-thousand-plus U.S. military veterans were gathering at Standing Rock to protect protesters that day. That indeed was the most beautiful thing that I had seen or heard by far in a very long time.
When I was done paying and my bag was packed, I said "Can I?," and we hugged like long lost friends.
That encounter made such an impact on me that day.
You see, every day every each one of us is creating many encounters without even realizing. We are making an impact on each other. Whether we give joy/love/courage, or fear/hate/despair, it is totally up to us.
It does not take a superman/woman to produce miracles. We only need to be aware. Today as we go out into the world and go about our very ordinary day, let us be conscious about what kind of encounters we create.
Spread Love. Who We Are and What We Do Matters. We individually and collectively create the future that we live into.
