Perspective

I went to my relaxation therapy class today.  I will tell all when I have the last one.   One of the meditation techniques we learned today was to visualize a place of peace.  Norma suggested a beach, the water lapping at the shore, the sun warming our faces, a gentle breeze blowing.   Somehow I couldn't get to the beach.  My place of peace is the cemetery where my parents reside, overlooking the  beautiful gorge, or on I-86 at the rest stop viewing Chautauqua Lake.

After the class a fellow said, "I'll bet you'd never guess my place of peace...Cleveland, Ohio."

CLEVELAND??  Of all the cities in all of the world, Cleveland wouldn't make my top fifty.  It has some pretty spots amongst the traffic, to be sure, and it has some entertainment value.  It has the Cavaliers for basketball fans and the Browns for football masochists. But peace?  Cleveland?

Well, as it turns out, he had received a new heart at Cleveland Clinic just over two years ago.  After four months in a hospital room hooked up to machines, the first time he was allowed outside it was in Cleveland.  His first smell was the sweetness of the exhaust from traffic,  and a hot dog from a street vendor.  He says it was the greatest thing he ever smelled.

Something else, too.  He had a near-death experience that showed him a bit of Heaven and a bit of Hell.  It has changed the way he lives.  A new heart gave him...well...a new heart.

I don't doubt a single word of his testimony.  He and his wife have a glow of inner peace around them.

I am trying to look at my life from a different perspective.   Today I learned what I had already suspected, that the YMCA is more than swimming and sweat.  The Bibles that lay on the benches are not props, but offered for inspiration.  A great many of the people I have met are there not only for pumping iron or the endless road of the treadmill.  They come for companionship, friendship and soul-searching.

Once one's perception of the Y, or of Cleveland, changes it opens up a different side of one's self. If I was wrong to perceive Cleveland as a dusty, crummy city and the Y as no more than torture chamber of sorts--what else have I been wrong about?  Could I be missing out on an important friendship, or a real adventure just because I insist that I know what to expect?

I saw the Y in a new way today; my class to de-stress, too.  I even elevated the status of good ol' Cleveland.  Imagine....to see beyond, to return...and to be grateful for Cleveland.

Welcome back.