If we are paying attention, being among strangers offers us the luxury of feeling every inch of ourselves and knowing that our bodies affect all the other bodies around us. Being among strangers gives us the chance to develop patience and care for others. It can be meditative.

It is this potential for meditation that I find most interesting. It is in the “being” that we locate the present moment, the moment in which we must exist in order to let ourselves be free and light. Lately, I have used the many moments of contact with strangers to be a moment of meditation. If someone bumps into me a bit too roughly, I try only to think about the feeling of the contact on my body, rather than let my mind feel irritation or even rage. It is not easy. Not all moments of contact with strangers lead to bliss (most don’t), but they all lead to awareness of how I am in the world, and, for me, that is the most important lesson.

via Being Among Strangers | Sarah E. Cornish.

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