One day during the Easter holiday, I took advantage of my free time and wandered around the city, exploring places that I usually find hard to reach. In the usual hectic pace of life, I often fail to do everything I’d like. This time, I visited the Humanitas bookstore on Elisabeta Boulevard—a true delight. It smells like books and libraries, which triggered memories of the years I spent in the Central State Library—what wonderful times those were!
I also discovered a new space dedicated to Romanian artists called “Măiastra.” I saw many beautiful things: clothes, pearls, rings, coffee or tea cups, scented candles, vases, perfumes, earrings, and shoes. A little paradise for a woman. I bought a gorgeous ring and a hand-painted tea cup—a true beauty!
I even tried on some clothes, but none of them fit me. So, I put back on the blouse I had arrived in and left. I continued to wander aimlessly through the city, something I hadn’t done in so long that I couldn’t even remember the last time. I noticed how beautiful and bright Elisabeta Boulevard can be when it’s free of traffic! If more buildings were renovated, it would be even more attractive to many.
On my way home, in the elevator, I realized that I had put my blouse on backward while at the store. The funny thing is, the back of the blouse looks quite different from the front, and yet I didn’t notice. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t pay attention to what I was wearing.
This made me think: how many times do we pass by others without truly seeing them? We see that there’s a person, of course, but we don’t look beyond the surface, beyond the usual “How are you? I’m fine. And you? Me too.”
I’ve had the chance to work with people who, after a few years, revealed that I hadn’t known them at all. I had taken their words at face value without delving deeper into the unspoken meanings. We pass by each other, so focused on ourselves, so opaque, that even blinders seem more permissive than we are. The mind can be like a friend playing hide-and-seek with us.
Do you know the gorilla experiment? In a gym, two teams of children—one dressed in white, the other in black—are playing basketball. The viewer’s task is to count how many times the players in white touch the ball. So focused on this task, at least half the viewers don’t notice what’s happening in the meantime: a large gorilla, dressed in black, walks through the gym, stops in the middle, beats its chest, and then leaves.
When we’re tasked with focusing on something specific, we no longer see the bigger picture; we might only notice what’s happening right next to us. I say “might” because, more often than not, it seems to me that, even in life, in our interactions with others, we behave like on TikTok: we scroll quickly, moving from one subject or person to another, without retaining much in the end. Everything slips past us, just as fats slide off a non-stick pan. But that’s okay too, as long as we’re at peace, content, and in harmony with ourselves and the world.