There are so many ways that we are called to be active, to make change, to attend to the needs of the world. But sometimes the most important thing you can do is just sit still and observe.
What have you learned from just watching?
3 thoughts on “Lurking”
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Watching people passing by is a favorite pastime of mine.
I enjoy considering what makes their lives tick or non-tick. I especially watch how people walk; it is clear that many people have trouble perambulating. As I grow older, I relate to that although I am a fairly normal walker at this time. It must be very difficult to limp or lung through life. I imagine that there has to be a lot of acceptance and courage to go through at least part of one’s life with that physical burden. However, perhaps it becomes such a kind of habit that it is simply a part of life for them although I doubt it.
I think what has been more important to me than simply watching, as part of the idea of observation, is simply listening. From this kind of observation I’ve learned patience and stillness, and from that, how to better listen to the world around me and the world within myself. By observing I’ve learned to slow down to try to better empathize with what other people are truly experiencing and where they are coming from in their own experience to their current self, and how this affects the world around them as well. From this I’m hoping it translates in learning how to more positively affect the world around all of us interdependently woven beings.
That my boredom originates in my thoughts, not in my circumstances.