Over the period of several weeks, I’ve had trucks, jack hammers, and lots and lots of people outside my office windows.  Apparently, there was a gas leak that required the local electric company to dig up much of the street and sidewalk on two sides of my office.  At one point, there were three jack hammers going at once, which actually got me to laughing.  It was so noisy, and the three men were so intent on their work, that I just couldn’t do anything but laugh.  Also, there were times during this process when I’ve had to move sessions into my waiting room and, at other points, clients and I have resorted to shouting at each other across the space between us.

The work continues, two and a half weeks after it began, and there’s no sign that it will stop anytime soon.  Throughout all the many days of this process, I have had countless opportunities to practice not struggling with “what is.”  There was nothing I could do about the noise and the work that needed to be done.  There was nothing I could do about being in my particular office at that particular time.  The only thing to do was laugh and allow all the noise to keep moving through me.  I brought to mind that our physical bodies are mostly space, and that – if I didn’t struggle – the noise wouldn’t have anything to bump into and could just keep moving through.  All in all, I didn’t end the days too stressed.  My biggest concern was for my clients and colleagues, and how they would manage time spent in the din of the noise coming from the outside.

Then, as I pondered the seemingly constant disruption caused by all the repair of the underground pipes and connections, I found my thoughts wandering to the subject of interdependence.  I began to think about how the men working outside belonged to the group of people that bring natural gas into my office and my apartment and that, without them, there wouldn’t be a way for me to heat water or cook meals.

I’ve written before about interdependence – about the fact that we cannot exist without the actions and energies of countless people we will never meet.  The men working outside my office are only one part of a large group of people who keep New York City supplied with natural gas.  I found myself acknowledging them all, and feeling grateful for their presence and their ability to deliver a needed resource.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to spend some time each day bringing interdependence into your awareness.  For example, when you turn on the water as you begin your day, notice what you experience if you recall that countless numbers of people work to make that water available to you.  Without their efforts, you wouldn’t have water at hand whenever you need or want it.  Or, when you go to the grocery store and pick up your favorite food or snack, take a few moments to consider all the unknown people involved in bringing that food to you.  Include the people who originally harvested or prepared the food, the people who packaged it, those who transported it, and those who unloaded it and put it on your grocery shelf.  Play with the same process when you stop to get gas in your car or when you walk into a movie theater.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, your actions and experience depend on the work and presence of other people you will never meet.  Without them, you couldn’t do what you do on a daily basis. As I write this experiment in my computer, even now, I couldn’t do this without the prior efforts of countless unknown people.  When I send it by e-mail to my webmaster, I recall that I couldn’t do that without all the efforts of everyone who design, build, and make available the computer I’m using right now.

Notice what happens in your experience as you bring into awareness the inescapable interdependence in which we live.  We cannot make it without each other, and in every moment of every day we are indebted to people we will never meet.  Pay particular attention to your experience of gratitude and notice what happens if you bring that gratitude to mind as you move through your day.

As with all the experiments, play with this one.  The goal isn’t to feel anything in particular.  Rather, it’s to offer yourself a way to be more aware of how we depend on each other, and to give yourself a chance to enhance your gratitude practice.