I must say that walking anywhere in New York city if you are very observant of where you are you may just see things that you might find interesting to your psyche. You may find that whatever mood you are in there are signs that are screaming for your attention so that you may better understand what you may be feeling.
Forgive me for possibly sounding superstitious but just the other day I was sitting on a bench at Central Park West, feeling quite anxious and glum, confused and slightly sad, when I noticed a flyer on the ground. I been sitting there for half an hour already and realized that as people walked by no one stepped on this particular flyer, one woman actually stepped into a small puddle trying not to step on it. So for the sake of my own curiousity I went to investigate.
The flyer simply said “What S.H.A.P.E. are you in?” Now there were other text on this flyer explaining what the word SHAPE meant but I was too mesmerized by that simple question. Almost like, who the hell is watching? So I did the next best thing and took a photo of it as I feel like sharing this somehow weird and strange phenomena. I know I may be exaggerating it a little by calling it a phenomenon but seriously I was a bit freaked!
And since that moment I have been walking around with my eyes wide open, noticing certain aspects of the city that I never really took time to see…for example, by the fountain near the AOL building, there was a man taking a thorough bath, shower, whatever you want to call it. He had a bag full of clothes and towels, soap and even a scrubber that he had laid out while he generously bathed in the free and public showers of the fountains. What that all meant? That despite what he may be going through he still found time to remain clean. That as people we all want the basic needs that keep us together and whole, despite how minor they might be and how most of us take for granted, this man looked like he had been waiting all day to wash.
Now again forgive me for being strange but to notice these amazing moments are quite captivating, as we all search for mountains, oceans, unicorns and fairy godmothers to put us in a euphoric state of mind, we need only look closely.
Another simple example, I have been to a very few concerts in my life and now I find myself at one performance or another. In the subway! Two days after running into the bathing man, I was at the 42nd train stop, I was changing trains and as I was running to catch the yellow line I was stopped by these amazing group that was singing songs from Marvin Gaye, Al Green and most of the legends. A pair of twins were singing in their brightest yellow tight outfits, from a distance you would never guess they were older than 20, but upon closer look they were about in their late 40s and still jamming like the best of them. I found this amazing, gutsy and strangely motivating. I forgot about my train and just stood there watching them in utter silence my feet moving as though with a mind of their own.
When I finally got to my train I was smiling like an idiot as I couldn’t shake this feeling of gratitude for being alive to be a part of these unique moments and I mean unique, because I would never have seen anything like this had I been somewhere else. Geez! I love this city. Signs are everywhere my friends, and we are in the city that has a pulsing heart, if we take the time to listen and really see we are blessed to be here in the “right now”.
Life throws us curve balls, I don’t like that expression because I don’t really know what a curve ball is so I would rather say that Life moves faster than a film reel and we either let it reach the end without us really watching all the happenings going on in our lives or we can slow that reel down and use a magnifying glass to see what exactly is happening…the only words that I can use to explain what I have found is gratitude and appreciation.
Enjoy this life, it is extremely too short, and welcome to your own crystal ball, New York city.
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