Have you ever been ill in bed for a time, even just a few days, and then emerged back into the world? When you’re first able to go outside, there’s such delight in everything, a kind of gratitude. It’s easy in those moments to just appreciate the experience of walking down the street. I have experienced a similar kind of intensity after a great loss.
I used to live off of University Avenue in Toronto and generally found the street very frustrating, because traffic moved fast, and it had many statues of war heroes, and a huge hydro building that was just a wall of mirrors.
In the time I lived there, two people who were close to me passed away within a couple of months of one another. And in both instances, I walked out of the hospital onto University Avenue and was overcome by the beauty I found. I noticed the way the clouds were reflected in the hydro building, and how much attention the sculptors had given to those statues. I noticed the doctors walking into work, where they try to help people again and again. I found everything so touching.
What was the difference other than something in my perspective? It was the same University Avenue I had been annoyed by many times before.
Think about how many people are walking out of hospitals right now missing someone they love. Think of the women who walk into the hospital in labor and come out alone. Think of all the human struggles and losses and pain that you pass without knowing.
It’s happening right now.
We get so caught up in the endless desires that occur inside of us, or we spend so much time trying to get our symptoms to go away, that we get completely wrapped up. But energy is always available to us when we release into being present, serving what needs to be served. Deep down, this can be what makes us most happy.