Stop, Look and Listen

Lord knows I have always been able to talk. It’s what I do best really. I used to be ashamed of it when I was younger. I would get so excited to be in a conversation and people would stare at me with a look that said,” Does she ever shut-up?”. I couldn’t help it. There is just something about learning about someone’s life that gives me a major endorphin rush. My mom says as a toddler you could take me anywhere. The only thing she had to worry about was me knowing everyone in the room by the time we left. It continued on from there. In the third grade my teacher Mrs. Channel, may she rest in peace, used to keep a pacifier in her desk drawer that she threatened me with at least once a day. She gave it to me when I graduated to fourth and I still have it. She was an amazing woman. She instilled in me the love of books and language, through many a book report. But, I learned to appreciate it and she encouraged me to continue talking and writing about everything I could. And that is exactly what I have done.
Perhaps it is meant to be, because people just come up and talk to me everywhere I go. I’m the person that always gets asked directions or about products in a store. I meet people in lines, at traffic lights, in waiting rooms, in store aisles, and most recently…at the gym.
I am a bit of a yoga enthusiast and at that moment in time I had been doing a pretty wicked Warrior 3 to stretch out my hamstrings. For those of you that aren’t big on yoga it would have looked like I was balancing on one foot. When I came out of my pose, I heard a voice to my left say,” That’s impressive.” I looked over to see a man in his mid-forties with a broad friendly smile and eyes that seemed wise beyond his years. I told him thanks, however, I’d never honestly thought much of just standing on one foot. You are asked to do it all the time in a yoga class, hell, I do it standing in lines. The gentleman, we will call him Dan, then proceeded to tell me that just standing on one foot was a daily challenge for him. See Dan is a childhood cancer survivor and 30 years of radiation therapy have caused some serious side effects. He has good days and bad days. Sometimes just lifting a cup of coffee to his lips before spilling it is the biggest challenge of the day, his muscles and depth perception don’t always function properly anymore. The stretching for him is the most difficult part; it brings him the most pain. But, he is striving to incorporate more of it in his day. He beamed proudly when he revealed to me that if it hadn’t been for meditation he wouldn’t be walking today. Despite all these setbacks in his life, he was out of the house, smiling and trying to keep up normal daily activities. Dan is an amazing inspiration. How often we take for granted all the things our bodies will do for us. There are so many days I don’t do my yoga practice because I just don’t feel up to it. Who is to say how we would react if our faculties were suddenly taken away from us.
I hope very much to see Dan again; we need people like him in this world. Especially this time of year when we are all in such a tizzy that we don’t take time to look at the person next to us. We look to celebrities and those in the media to tell us what we should do, how to live and how we should think. But, I think you would be surprised at the stories you would hear if you just took a moment to open your heart and your ears to a stranger. Because the most inspiring and encouraging story you ever hear may come from the person standing right next to you. Thank you Dan.