Sometimes we are taken out of our environments

Sometimes we are taken to places, far from where we belong, so we can appreciate where we do belong. So we can understand the abundance that is present in our lives every single day but don’t realise because we take our lives for granted.

Sometimes we are placed in circumstances where we see lost hope and despair in the faces of others so we can know for the first time the hope and possibility we carry in our hearts but dismiss or suppress because we forget it exists.

Sometimes we are shown the lives of others so we can appreciate the lives we lead because we are too blind to see how wonderful our lives really are. How blessed we truly are. To allow us to let go of the feelings of not having enough. To see we get too caught up in what we don’t have instead of appreciating what we do have.

And that’s why sometimes we are taken out of our abundant world and taken to a place where there is scarcity everywhere we turn so we can appreciate the abundance in our lives every single day.

Yesterday I walked through the streets of downtown Denver enroute to meetings and was overwhelmed by the number of people, young people, begging on the streets. Some with signs. Others with that look of lost faith in their hollow eyes. And I felt such a deep sense of sadness about the lives they are living. Several of them looking young enough to start anew but seemingly lacking the courage or the will to do so. Making me curious about their stories.  About how they ended up on the side of the street begging for money.

I thought about when these street people came into the world and how their parents probably had such hope for them. Dreams for them and I wondered how those dreams got dashed. How these able bodies people of all colours and ages managed to find themselves homeless and without any prospects for the future. I thought about the hard paths these people have chosen to take and wondered what made me so much more privileged than they are. What choices had put them on the street.

All these thoughts crossing my mind as I looked at the people on the streets against the backdrop of majestic mountains, free shuttles and lots of stores and tourists.  How there are many different facets of life based on the choices we make. And as I was walking what I realised most of all is that I have so much to be grateful for. So much to be proud of. So much more than I give myself credit for. And it is for these reasons that I chose to write about the people on the streets because they helped me to see that sometimes we are taken out of our environments to allow us to see our environments. To appreciate all the abundance we truly have.

To look into the hollow eyes of those who were born in the same way as I was and to see how our paths, though starting the same, have ended up completely different is mind boggling. All because of choices made.

And then my thoughts shifted to wondering if these people had it right while I had it wrong. How though they were poor, they were outside in the fresh air for most of the day looking at mountains while I toil away in an office – often not knowing what the weather is like outside. Questioning who has the real solution to life – me or them?

Sure I wish sometimes I had more, did more, weighed less, and ate less but it is the reality that I have the ability to make choices that grounds me to the fact that gratitude is what makes us more appreciative of who we are. Gratitude allow us to appreciate there is always someone better and worse than us. And we need not worry about what others may have. All we need to do is to be grateful for what we have. And when we do, we see the world and ourselves from a completely different perspective.

Sometimes we are shown the lives of others so we can appreciate the lives we lead because we are too blind to see. Too caught up in what we don’t have to appreciate what we do until we are placed in a situation or place where there is so much scarcity that we readily appreciate the abundance freely available in our lives. So we can understand we really have nothing to complain about - all we need do is live with gratitude and grace.

With gratitude for the life I lead. For the choices I have made, make and will continue to make. For seeing scarcity to appreciate abundance. Namaste