The
other morning as I was walking into the studio, I noticed a clean cut,
grey haired gentleman pulling empty bottles out of the dumpster next to
our building. He had his bike parked along him, with a basket & a
bunch more bottles in the basket as well.
We
collect alot of recyclable/returnable bottles in our studio (www.sanctuarypoweryoga.com) - sometimes my family returns them for the deposit, sometimes they just go out with
the recycling.
I waited for a few minutes to talk to the gentleman. I told him I had a bag of bottles in the yoga studio - would he like them?
He
said he would absolutely take the bottles. He then enthusiastically told me that he was 63 years old, retired, and
collecting Social Security. He has a roommate who "sits in the front of
the computer all day", while he himself takes his bike all around town
collecting bottles (people leave them out for him). He told me he takes
care of an older gentleman (90 years old). He told me "I'm so lucky - I feel like a kid!".
I
ran up to the studio & grabbed the bottles for him & told him
I'd leave them for him as we collected them. We talked for a few
minutes - and he repeated how lucky he felt. And then he was off to
continue collecting bottles before it got too hot.
Now,
I don't really know much about this gentleman & the "truth" about
his life. I'm sure some people think he's a little crazy, collecting bottles on his bike. But I know that running into him that morning pretty much
made my day. He was pulling recyclable bottles out of dumpster & he
was happy. He was clean, polite & articulate. He's 63 but he
feels like a kid & is taking care of an "older" man. He clearly was
enjoying his day, his life & not letting anything slow him down or
get him down.
If that's not yoga off your mat, I'm not sure what is.
If you change
your thoughts, you can change your world. But you also have the
opportunity to change someone else's world too.
