When I'm riding as a passenger in a car, I'll sometimes just look out the window and watch people go by. I wonder where they're coming from and where they are going. It's amazing to think that 7.5 billion people, with lives as complex as mine, live on this planet. They all have people they love, things they struggle with, and quirky little habits.
Someone created a word to describe this feeling:
Sonder
The word conveys the sadness and the wonder that you feel when you know that you'll never meet all those faces that whiz by on the road and in life. That so many lives are beyond your reach.
But are we so powerless in affecting their lives? Frigyes Karinthy authored the theory of six degrees of separation. His theory proposed that you are linked to anyone in the world through only six people. It may seem farfetched but testing has shown that this is generally true. Facebook currently has an average of 4 degrees of separation!
So if you think about it, are we really so disconnected from those strangers we see pursuing their lives? One kind word to someone we know may brighten their day leading them to do something kind for someone else.
Next time you have that feeling of sonder, use it as an encouragement to reach out to those close to you, and through them reach out to the world.
Smile awhile and while you smile - another smiles, and soon there are miles and miles of smiles and life's worth while because you smile. - Kathleen J. Edgar
Sonder....I like it. Thanks for sharing.
John Koenig has coined a lot of neat words. You can see some others at www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com
My favorite one is Vellichor - the strange wistfulness of used bookstores filled with thousands of old books you'll never be able to read
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