The Person Next To You...

The Person next to you is...

The greatest miracle and the greatest mystery you will ever meet at this moment
An inexhaustible reservoir of possibility
with possibilities which may have been only partially revealed and made visible.

The person next to you is...
A unique universe of experience in necessity and possibility embracing
dread and desire
frowns and smiles
tears and laughter
fears and hopes
struggling to find expression and acceptance


The person next to you is...
desirous of becoming someone in particular who has a story and a song to share
who desires to know and appreciate being known
who will arrive at a destination

The person next to you...
believes in something
believes in something
stands for something
counts for something
lives for something
cries for something
labors for something
waits for something
runs for
runs from
runs toward something

The person next to you...
has problems and fears
wonders how they are doing and often doesn't feel very good about it
is often undecided and disorganized and painfully close to chaos
but
believes they are given great strength and are able to survive
the most unbelievable difficulties and persecutions

The person next to you...
is a community of persons met during your lifetime - friend and foe.

The person next to you....
has something they can do well
has something they can do better than anyone else in the whole world
has a life on earth that has great meaning and purpose
but
do they dare share it with you?

The person next to you...
can live in relationship with you and not just beside you
can live not only for themselves but also for you
can listen, comfort, encourage, and counsel you
and in turn
you can listen, comfort, encourage, and counsel

The person next to you...
can never fully be understood
is more than any description or explanation
is mystery
and the word was made flesh and is mystery
and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us

Look around you, for God, Christ, Divine, Om, Ram - is here in the person next to you.

This is the person next to you.

Live. Think. Speak. Dress. Hear. Taste. Be. Love. Being mindful requires more than attending a yoga class and memorizing the cliches and quips. Being mindful still means something.

For the person next to you is

You

and

You are Them.

Universal structure is no happenstance. Happiness is being swallowed up and consumed by a Purpose you recognize as bigger than yourself. The very vibration of your body, the earth, and all of the 5 elements and 5 senses...are all interacting subtly, grossly, continuously, eternally.

We are eternal creatures, with a Soul that yearns to connect with the Divine. Our suffering is never in vain. Share each others' pain and burdens, joy and laughter, and in doing so, we can make our load lighter on this planet.

"The Person Next to You" was authored by myself and Rose Hamlin, a dear friend.

*photo is my littlest yogi, William Theodore, pictured at 6 months old