The Circle Around You

I want to tell you a little story that I hope will give you hope and comfort.

At a time when everything in my life was falling apart—my body, my finances, my family—I got onto a plane and sat down in a window seat. The shades were down to keep the heat out of the plane.

Sitting there with nothing to do, overwhelmed by panic and sorrow, I rummaged in my travel backpack for gum and found a little meditation book someone had given me on a previous trip.

I opened the book to a random page and found instructions for a visualization to use in hard times. The first step was to close my eyes and imagine a circle of light around me. Sounded pretty generic, but it couldn’t hurt. I did it.

The next step was to imagine that the light around me was my favorite color. “But I love ALL the colors,” I thought. So I imagined a rainbow around me.

Then the plane took off. As we rose through a layer of clouds, I felt a sudden urge to open the window shade. What I saw through the window is pictured below. It’s a rare weather phenomenon known as a “glory,” where the shadow of a plane is surrounded by—well, see for yourself.

People, it’s not just me. The poet Hafiz wrote: “A long time ago, God drew a circle around the place where you’re standing now.” There’s a circle around each of us. There’s a circle around you.

Wherever you are, however you’re feeling, you are circled by glory. Here, now. Everywhere, always.