More than we are

This morning I met with a Tae Kwon Do partner, as I do fairly often, for a  7am workout.  Last night he got in from Italy, where goes every few months to visit his family in Vicenza.  I suppose the jet lag would be in his favor for such an early start to the day, but beyond that he seemed newly invigorated.  Something about going home, seeing certain friends and family, maybe even speaking in his native tongue, or seeing a familiar landscape of mountains and sky.  I don't know what the experience fully was for him, but I saw him refreshed and open in a new way.  Having recently returned from a home not even that far away nor that different, I can appreciate the new perspective it can offer.

People are so many parts to them, and specific circumstances or situations can lead to a very subtle expression.  Sometimes it isn't even that subtle.  Yes we are who we are, but we also take on the color around us.  Not to do so is generally considered unhealthy, being out of touch with reality.  It is a fine line between visionary and unstable.

To see someone living differently inside their own skin is a very special thing.  And to feel that way from within, is a very special thing.  There is an ecstatic feeling to being jet-lagged, to being out of place and yet being grounded in oneself.  The senses have separated from the body in some many odd ways seeing new things, tasting, smelling, touching, feeling in new ways. Sometimes a journey can peel away the clutter surrounding us, dusting off the cobwebs of habits and expectations.

In the day to day it can be hard to see ourselves in the midst of the clutter that accrues.  And it can be just as hard to see others.  What is the breadth and depth of possibility that we each hold?  What does it take to explore this for ourselves and how can we better see and listen so as to be open to another's possibilities?  What a gift we can give to one another to realize and respect this potential.  We are more than we are.