This very strange thing happened to me today. I was standing outside, taking a break and getting some fresh air and I began to wander off and look around. I didn’t go very far in reality, nearly across the walkway so I could stand at the railing which allowed me to see the river. And the way I looked at the world around me just suddenly changed!

I stood there silently, very much alone in my thoughts and just looked out over the water. I watched it moving along and eventually I looked up to study its path, thinking about how it wound its way through the very heart of the city. These thoughts led me even further from where I actually stood to the Great Lake which fed the river. I tried to remember where the lakes connected to. Did each lake in turn touch another and did any of them in fact touch the sea?

Then I began to think about the drops of water which formed the greater whole. I thought about the countless numbers of tiny droplets which at one time may have been rain and now floated along with all the others. I considered that for each drop that I could not see there was yet one more which touched it and so many others. The drops of water on their own seem so insignificant but when they touch becoming one great and powerful thing they span two thirds of the earth don’t they?

I considered the possibility, as remote as it was that a drop of water which touched the shore here may have at some time in the past touched a distant shore.

Next I thought about the earth being one with the sea. Each grain of earth and sand touching the next all come together and become the solid foundation beneath our very feet. Its always there isn’t it after all? Even where we can not see it, miles beneath the sea, its there, like a great chain, link after link until it reaches where you stand possibly thousands of miles away from me.

I considered that you may not be near the sea but yet there is still a connection that I have found. The earth absorbs water, and in turn the water becomes the earth. Smaller parts of a greater whole, all things become one. I stood there for the longest while thinking these things which left me realizing so many others.

I thought about the sky and the breeze which gently blew around me. I thought about the sun which warmed my face. The sky which I often look up at, whether it be day or night is still the same sky you see. As is the sun and the stars. The earth making her circular orbs each day then round the sun allows us to see the same sights. I know that I can look up and see a sky that you have seen only hours before even though I can not see it at the same time. The same wind which touches me may have blown clear across an ocean from where you are.

Anything and everything is possible isn’t it? Everything being connected the way it is. I guess that’s why I stopped dead in my tracks to look around me today. I came to realize that all things of this world touch one another somehow only we don’t notice. Because I have come into that knowledge and am now infinitely wiser I appreciate it all so much more.

I doubt that anyone ever notices or thinks about any of this but from now on I think I always will. I will always look down and remember that the earth beneath my feet is the same you walk upon. I will look up into the skies and know somewhere you too stand beneath the very same sky. I will breathe deeply and know you breathe the same air. When the wind blows and touches me, I will think perhaps it has touched you too.

I think that somehow, by knowing this my life will never be the same. It means so much more then what I’m merely pointing out. It means that we are all connected and everything we do in life somehow effects those around us. We so easily forget don’t we? Since I have opened my eyes to this important bit of knowledge I know that I can not allow myself to forget.

We are all of this earth aren’t we? We all start as dust and return to dust. Life comes from life and renews itself. I never noticed it before, well not consciously anyway. Did you know that within a three person range of someone you know and someone they know then someone they know - you could have contact with anyone in the world?

Most people don’t realize that. The world is so much smaller then we realize. We are all connected through life. For every decision we make, every action performed the number of lives we manage to touch and effect is staggering. But the average person never stops to think about that unfortunately.

In today’s society we are all caught up in our own needs and our own successes. At least in America I think most people are that way. We seem to be so driven here. Too many times we forget the ones we love and take them for granted. Too many times we leave loved ones behind moving head without them. Sad isn’t it?

So, what’s the point to this one I bet you’re wondering??? There really is not point that I can say except that I finally stopped today - I stood still for a moment in time and looked around me. I was shocked and also pleased at what I saw, what I learned. I feel so much wiser, so much luckier and so much healthier for it. I guess I just wish that for everyone.

What harm could there be in it after all? You may find something that really matters to you staring you dead in the face. It was probably right there all along but you’ve been just too busy to notice.

I wish you success in your quest as I think I have found in mine. I keep finding all these small blessing along the way and I keep realizing just how wonderful my life really is.