A Room With a View

A view from a walk in my neighborhood, last night.

I love the view outside my window. It’s not serene, like the image above. It’s a busy city intersection next to a small police station. There are cars, trams, busses and people. People going to work, school, restaurants, church and the mosque. I can see a market hall, flowers for sale, joggers, cyklists, skaters and scooters. I smell the Turkish barbecue round the corner and I’m thrilled to know we have the best Vietnamese mom and pop-kitchen in town, just outside. I can see the police men and women hurry off in their cars. Horrible things might be happening at their destinations, but for me they are a part of something calming, soothing, joyful. My Everyday. Beautiful Everyday.

So this is my thought of the day. There is nothing inherently positive about a moving car or people running for the tram. In fact, all of the events and people outside my window have nothing to do with me or each other, but somehow they seem to be something whole and complete. Events and actors in the background of the movie that is my life. A view of Life. Moving, dancing, evolving Life. And I love it.

This is of course a trick of my mind. But this is what’s cool. Since I feel this narration (oh, and often to the soundtrack of John Coltrane playing), the narration is my reality, for the moment. 

The implications are that I in a glimpse can see that whatever is in the scope of my attention is my reality. Just as the meaning of the view outside my window is a fantasy, all other views of my mind are.

This gives me freedom to look at what I want. Instead of looking at the thoughts that says “I’m so stressed out”, or “What will they say if I…” or “It’s really crappy of her to say it like that…”, I can glance over to another view. Not press in a new thought, not force it. Just glance. Just like I look out the window when I get stuck on a word in the middle of this text. Maybe my inner view is of what I want to accomplish, or perhaps the next bit of action that will take me closer to that vision. Or a view of how fortunate I am to have three beautiful children or the view that looks like “hey, I want to take a nap right now”. Or a view that says “It seems I am about to stress myself out, could I perhaps not do that?”. Or I could look at the physical, yet metaphorical – and all made up – view of my Everyday outside my window.

Love,

/Johanna