I was walking with a client about two years ago, when she paused and told me to look up. I had no idea what she was talking about. But I stopped and did what she said.
As we gazed up at the tops of apartment buildings with shrubbery on the decks. The ornate cascades that framed the sides of the buildings. I took in the architecture and the beauty of the gothic design of many of the buildings.
She turned to me nodding satisfied. She had lived in the city much longer then I had, yet she seemed to remember the excitement and awe that those visiting or even moving for the first time feel. That as jaded New Yorkers we forget over time.
“Every so often I remind myself to look up. To get a new perspective and appreciate what this city is,” she told me.
It is a lesson I have remembered ever since. The student schooling the yoga instructor. That was and is yoga.
My aunt laughed when I was in France at the amount of facade pictures I took. I was never one for architecture, but the mesh of centuries of history molding together to form modern day Paris took my breath away. I was a first timer and awestruck.
Much like the joys of a child experiencing walking or ice cream, as adults we forget that exhilaration. The new perspectives we get from moments such as those. Especially as we move about our busy lives.
I think that is why I love when people visit. It lets me experience my city on a deeper level. The same buildings I walk past uncociously daily, I am able to let sink in and appreciate them.
That was the lesson of the day and I try to remind myself of that. To stop and pause. Take in something new. Whether it is the Triboro bridge I run past almost daily, noticing how the sun reflects on it differently every time. Or noticing the architecture by Washington Square Park.
Wherever you are, take a moment to pause and truly, truly smell the roses as they say. Appreciate where you are in the moment, because you won’t get it back. The next moment is a brand new one.
