I had an epiphany this morning while walking through Grand Central Station. As usual, I was cutting a way through the sea of disorienting people, some going too slow, stopping and looking, unsure of which corridor or staircase or escalator to head toward, some changing their mind mid-stride and turning around, some wheeling their luggage or pushing their stroller obtrusively over my path, some taking small steps while looking down at their phone or talking on it or talking to someone next to them, some in a bigger rush than I am, zipping urgently ahead of me, and most of us going in different directions, barely able to keep from colliding into each other.

Every weekday morning and evening, I am annoyed with all these people in Grand Central, but today it occurred to me that I can no more blame them for being a hindrance than I could blame myself. At one time or another, I had wandered aimlessly in busy train stations, airports, malls and had not known where to go. I had stopped short and realized I needed to go the opposite way. I had taken up extra space in many places with my various baggage. I had gotten distracted by a text or a conversation and had become oblivious to my surroundings. I had been desperate enough to get somewhere by running across oncoming traffic. And I, of course, have bumped into countless people everywhere.

I am forever trying to be more Zen, and this is a good lesson on it: things eventually even out in the end. Other people get in my way as much as I get into theirs, and in turn, I get in my own way as much as other people get in mine with my own faults, stupidity, ignorance, hang-ups, and ever reconsidering mind.