Stolen Goods

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. – Rumi

On Friday night, someone went into my unlocked car (which I had parked on the street in front of my house) and stole my GPS. I made this discovery after looking out my bedroom window on Saturday morning and seeing that my car door had been left wide open. I ran down to the street and scoured the car to see what had been taken and what had been left behind (one pair of really old Danskos, two bags of clothes to donate, four rolled-up yoga mats, an umbrella, and a bluetooth headset). I found it ironic that the only thing the thief wanted was the one thing that had given me a “new sense of direction.”

Being a victim of theft is never easy. While we might be able to eventually forgive and move on, we may still feel violated that someone has helped themselves, uninvited, to our intimate world… whether that be our car, our home, or our heart. Fortunately, I was able to focus on the positive: only one thing had been taken and the exterior of my car was untouched. There was no major damage, like smashed windows or broken door handles. In fact, no one would ever know that anything had been taken from within.

Though it may be a stretch, the stolen GPS made me think about the other things that are taken from us in life without our permission. What about the woman who has loved a man only to have him walk away? On the exterior she may look fine, while on the interior she lacks a piece of herself that she once had. The natural inclination after any violation is to get back to where or who you once were. And yet, the very act of “theft” forever changes things. It shifts energy in a new direction and propels you to think, act, or love differently.

No matter how big or small your “stolen goods,” the key to moving on is always forgiveness. Forgive the thief, forgive the man who scorned you, forgive the person who is not YOU. Because when we forgive, we evolve. And when we evolve, we teach others.