Nudged by the Universe

Every once in a while I experience a nudge from the Universe. Something in my environment pops up seemingly out of thin air to remind me of the truth that I already know well, but have set aside to service my own bias or current hang-up. It happened this morning.

I was walking down Broadway. (Are you starting to see a pattern here? Broadway is the same symbol for me that the river was for Huck and Jim. Geez.) While grumbling past Bowling Green, I saw a guy sleeping on a subway grating, presumably because it was warmer, right inside the park. All the flowers are still out around the fountain, but then there’s this guy. A little further south on Whitehall Street, I started to notice all of the cars that were parked in the No Parking zones. One after another they lined the street, causing delivery trucks to double park, disrupting traffic in an already congested area.

Two sets of rules, I thought to myself. This city always has two sets of rules. One for the privileged and one for everybody else. Why do I ever bother doing anything by the rules? They’re so malleable it’s sickening. On and on I spiraled, becoming more embittered. I remember my uncle, a retired New York City cop, putting his badge in his window so he could park wherever he wanted to. All of these cars had official-looking Police “I Reserve The Right” laminates on their dashboards. I thought of what September 11th did to Canal Street, with cops parking everywhere from yellow zones to, oh to hell with it, the sidewalks. It was insane to walk there before everybody had a hero complex.

I got to the last car in the row, but it didn’t have a Police Entitlement laminate on the dash. This dashboard was empty, except for a copy of The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz. I couldn’t believe it. I had been nudged.

http://www.miguelruiz.com/teachings/fouragreements.html