Looking Up

Have you ever felt a sense of awe when you look up to the sky on a clear day? Or a sudden overwhelm of humility when you look up to the stars and the moon at night? Or a sense of hope at sunrise, and a sense of relief at sunset? Did you remember looking up to your Mom/Dad when you were just 3 feet tall, seeing her/him with a thought “I want to be like her/him when I grew up?” Have you ever felt a jolt of joy when you look up at fireworks?

“Two friends raised their heads up to the sky on a dark evening.
Look at the stars.
Let us make a wish.
They each took a moment of silence.
What did you wish for?
For you to have peace with your wish.”
― J.R. Rim

Looking up has always been a powerful human gesture. It makes you realize that you are part of something larger than yourself, or even the world and society around you… that there is something more to you like what you aspire to be, that you can always look forward to whatever happens tomorrow or this next minute, that nothing is quite just “impossible”, and that with each passing day, you manage to still exist.

Looking up provides a sense of relief, and a realization that what you are worrying today and your problems do not define you as a person. You will eventually pass them, whatever they are. It is a gesture of surrendering yourself to someone or a force mightier than you, whether that be the God you believe in, or another human being you look up to.

We can be such a better, more patient human being, if we just tilt our head up more often in our daily life. It puts things in perspective… that you are not the center of everything, and that you don’t always have to perform your best in every single moment of your life.

Sometimes, getting by is good enough. Very good actually… there is nothing wrong with it.

So, please remember this. The next time you feel like a lot of burdens are upon your shoulders, just look up and let those burdens slide away for a little while. You can always pick them up again slowly afterwards.

“There’s always a reason to look up.”
― A.D. Posey