Lessons From Strangers

As we go through our daily lives most of us have interaction with dozens, if not hundreds of people every time we leave our homes. People we drive down the road with, work with, go to school with, pass on the sidewalk, see at the store and people we know and purposefully interact with.

I believe that we have all chosen to be here on earth at this particular time, each for our own particular reasons. I also think that this is part of a grand, infinite experience for the purpose of the growth and expansion of our souls and of the Universe. And, I (and many others) believe that we are all connected and part of the Universal whole. I won’t go into the whole thought process about many life experiences, time being an illusion and all things happening at once. Too much information for this short post. Plus, it makes my brain hurt to think about it.

What I do want to explore is the meaning behind every interaction we have with each person with whom we come in contact. If you buy into the fact that we are all here on purpose and that there are no coincidences in the perfection of the unfolding of eternity, then there must be a reason for every encounter we have, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

Although I spend much of my day oblivious to any deeper meaning behind the personal encounters I have, there are many times that I pay closer attention to the conversations I hear, or the demeanor of those within my range of observation. In these cases, I am always curious about how and why I have attracted those particular people and that particular conversation into my experience. What is it, I wonder, that led me to sit next to a family – a grown daughter and her parents – and, as I ate my breakfast, listened to them argue about the best way to keep the cat box clean and odor free. I’m talking about a 30 minute conversation here. I wanted to lean over and say, just clean the damn thing every day and add a little fresh litter once a week and you’ll be good.

Or, how about sitting next to a group of older teenagers and hear them talking about all the ways they hide the fact that they smoke pot from their parents. Again, I wanted to turn to them and say, dudes, your parents know you smoke pot.

I don’t have any great insights as to why I heard these particular conversations or what lessons, if any, I was supposed to learn from them. What I can say is that they were indications to me that I should be paying attention to what shows up in my life. If I am hearing or seeing a lot of negative stuff I know I need to observe my own vibration and how I am feeling in that moment. Witnessing these odd and somewhat memorable conversations is a great reminder that we attract not only what we think about, but what matches our feelings. Similarly, I can always tell when my vibration is particularly high by the number of people who randomly smile and say hello to me. I know that it is in response to not only my own smile, but to the energy I am putting out into the world.

Next time you are out and about pay attention to what you see and hear. Reflect on what in you that is mirroring and take it to heart. Every experience is a lesson if we are willing to learn from it.