There’s always that one person that makes a huge impression in your life. I’m not talking about the obvious people like your mother or your sister, brother or father. I’m really getting at that random person who shows up in your life, the person you’ve barely met, the person that sparks an inspirational flame that doesn’t go out quite so fast.

I’ve had many random encounters with people I’ve never met before, all of which were eye-opening experiences, and yet it seems like only a few of those have really been engraved in my heart. 

Imagine you are at Starbucks. Imagine you’re on your laptop, on Facebook, with headphones listening to iTunes, etc. when a lady simply asks to see the newspaper that is next to you. And so you hand it over… and little do you know that you and that lady will an interesting discussion. And that is exactly what happened. She was out of work, trying to find a job. We discussed my major (Psychology) and my possible future career ideas. We discussed politics, youth, the Arab Spring and Syria in particular, we talked about psychology and so many other random combinations of topics. In the end, she expressed her frustration at not being able to find a stable job. She said, however, that she was going to keep trying. Her story was inspirational because although she was jobless she was determined to keep going in her life. And there I was never giving a care in the world about what having a job means and what responsibility is. It was amazing to see how, although she was clearly struggling, she was making the absolute best of her situation and challenges.

Honestly, if you want to be inspired or have a new perspective on life or have your perspectives put into place, be open to the randomness and go with the flow. Seriously. 

Life is about learning, but sometimes learning from the same people continuously does no good. Learn from others around you that you may have only met once or twice, or even from people you have literally never seen before.

But in the end, it is not a person that lifts you up higher. It is God who does that. Actually, let me rephrase. A person who inspires you on the path of mediation and righteousness has guided you to the Supreme Being who will then pull you up and give you strength to continue life. You see, people like that are rare and they are worth finding or accidentally bumping into because once you meet That One Person, you’ll never be the same.

☮ Dana