I recently did work in the Swedish archipelago. So beautiful! On days like that, it is hard to believe you are at work.
This time, the sky opened up and the rain poured down for a short while. The sky looked amazingly powerful as I stood on the shore and looked out over the ocean.
It is stunning how small you feel at times like this. Not only that, but your worries and problems also feel small. Things you otherwise attach great importance to suddenly do not feel all that important. You just stand there with your smallness somewhere in the vastness of the universe and marvel. Everything stops.
A few hours later, I stepped ashore, jumped on my bike, and felt how everyday life was slowly making its way back.
“I have to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Oh, I almost forgot; I have to do laundry today. I wonder if I can make it to the gym. On the last day of the month, I have to remember to report my working hours. Oh yeah, I have to log and send in my expenses for the month.”
Things that need to be done. They do not get done by standing and staring at the sky in an attempt to make them small enough to disappear.
But now and then, we can try to remind ourselves of the emptiness that surrounds all these little musts and problems. Our inner, limitless space can teach us not to take everything so seriously.