Marie

I’m thankful that I have “Aha moments” regularly. But I think sometimes they’re a little bit interesting in that they can be small or profound.

But in thinking about this question I actually was taken back to a time that I got to spend some time in India, because that really changed me as a person, being able to be an American, in another place, really showed me just how much we take for granted, every single day. As Americans we are given SO much. We really do live in the land of milk and honey. The opportunity that we have to be able to do whatever we want is really something special. And something that I don’t ever want to take for granted.

But one of the things that was also shown to me, about humanity, that made me go “Aha, this is something that is meaningful, that I can take forward with me,” was the fact that in spite of the fact that so many people living on the streets of Kolkata don’t have any of the things I have every single day–my health, shelter, clean water, food. And a way to be able to connect and do good for other people. They still were really mindful of the other people around them who live exactly the same way that they do.

So whenever they were given something good, more often than not you’d see them turn to someone else who also was equally in as much need as they were, and share that gift with somebody else.

I think that is remarkable and really impactful because we take for granted what we are given and the opportunities that we have to be able to connect with others. So, for me, that “Aha moment”, the way that I try and live it here in Portland every day is just by being mindful and seeing the people that are around me, even if it’s just to give them a smile, or to greet them by a look or a nod…. Just trying to connect and show somebody else that I’m thankful to be alive and that we do share something that is really important, which is the gift of life.

And that we live in community with each other. That there are not divisions amongst us that can often be barriers to connecting with each other.

And I really appreciate that opportunity to be able to reach other people and to live that every day.

So that’s my “Aha moment.”