I have been thinking about this question a lot.
When attending a workshop a few weeks back I got to observe something amazing. The guest speaker asked the individuals in the class about any problems that they were having. Pains in the body, injuries and other related issues. That day just about everyone had a something. I was amazed that everyone had an issue they were working on.
This made me thing about the multitudes of people that come into a yoga class. Everyone is looking for something to heal them, or at least not hurt them. Everyone has some concern about some pose coming up that may cause them pain or healing. Which then got me thinking, pain is a universal thing. Everyone on earth experiences pain on some level. So if that is true, what makes my life or life unique?
The answer is, as I am figuring this out, the order in which you experience things makes you different. The truth is no experience is completely unique (or really unique at all). What makes it unique is the person who is experiencing it. The time in your life, after or before other experiences, how you react to the experience, and how you allow the experience to affect you in the future.
When I realized this idea, then I realized that I am never alone. I might feel the pain of loneliness but others have too. My loneliness is not unique but when I experience it in the course of my life, and my reaction to it makes it different. It all gives it the value that I assign. Others, at least on some level, can always relate to the pain I am suffering.
So are we really unique then? Maybe not. Maybe our true uniqueness is wrapped up in our sameness. What do you think? Do you think this is maybe something that we would not want to admit to ourselves? Ego perhaps?
