NEW YORK, NY – Jan. 27, 2010 – Having a pleasant lunch with my ex-wife Louise yesterday, I rediscovered a navigational trick. She pointed out what I was doing wrong.
I was having trouble bumping into people in crowds. A day earlier, I was taking a commuter train from Penn Station at the busiest time of the day – around 5 in the evening. In the sea of people, I was having to bob and weave in order to get to the train. (I’ve lived here before but I didn’t have such problems.)
Louise pointed out what I was doing wrong: I was looking at people!
When you walk through a wall of people, think about a big rock up on a mountain. It looks like it’s solid but it’s not. When you get up close, you realize that there are fissures, little cracks. Crowds of people are like that. Not solid. They’re continually ebbing and flowing.
So now, I just fix my gaze directly in front of me with my concentration on my destination. But I use my peripheral vision. I’m aware of what’s coming from the left, center and right. And sometimes I can sense if someone is behind me.
It’s amazing! I just “go with the flow” and slip right through. Like buttah! And I now realize that’s what everyone else is doing. Only rarely do we actually look at each other.
Fixing our attention ahead on our goal. Hmm. Perhaps a life lesson?
Copyright 2010 James C. Lewis
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