Everything That Happens Matters

Even a message from your neighbour

This morning, I woke up to two WhatsApp messages.
Both were from my downstairs neighbour.
He said I had made too much noise last night.

But I had been asleep.
There had been no noise — not in the room, not in me.
Still, my body reacted.

I responded right away.
Polite, friendly, open.
And a few minutes later, he replied kindly.
Phew. No conflict. No tension.

But something inside me didn’t settle.
There was a simmering in my belly, low and quiet, just below the navel.
A subtle excitement — not joyful, but electric.

I’m used to pushing that kind of sensation away.
Ignoring it.
Denying it.
Avoiding it.

This time, I couldn’t.
The feeling stayed — even when I tried to move on.
Avoiding didn’t work.
It remained.

And then something shifted.
The tightness in my body turned into a gentle clarity.
My breathing slowed.
My mind cleared — like when the fog suddenly lifts and you can see far again.

In that clarity, a question arose.
Not from the mind, but from something deeper:
How would my authentic self meet this moment?

Because I hadn’t.
I had reacted.
Not from presence — but from habit.

My acquired self didn’t want to feel discomfort.
It just wanted the situation to disappear.
But my authentic self was asking a deeper question:
How does this moment serve me, exactly as it is?

And you —
when life presses a button inside you,
who answers first?

What if these small moments —
the ones you usually brush off —
are the very doors to your freedom?

What if discomfort isn’t the problem…
but the invitation?

Outside, a motorbike passed slowly.
I let the sound in.
I stayed with it.
And this time, I didn’t disappear.