Standing on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona

Recently, my friend Mary Beth and I took a one-day road trip to Winslow, Arizona to "stand on the corner of Winslow Arizona," a public spot established in 1999 commemorating the song "Take it Easy" written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey and recorded by the Eagles. (We’re at that age that we remember the song)
Both of us are busy in our lives with work, family, friends, and maintaining our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing; it’s a full-time job. Every year we set aside a day to do something special with each other for our birthdays. This trip to Winslow, we were observing my delayed birthday celebration. On our three-hour drive on the B-Line Highway going through Payson, Pine and nearing our destination, an awareness of Other-Centered consciousness entered my mind. It was a light-bulb moment of wakefulness and gratitude. 

During one of our many conversations, Mary Beth was re-counting a recent trip she had and was describing the people she met. In her calm and descriptive manner of talking, detailing the events, and discussions she experienced, the light-bulb moment came when I realized how thoroughly she captured people’s lives. As if I had never noticed before, on this day, clearly, I heard the difference between a Self-Centered or Other-Centered person. One is either centered on the self or centered on others. It is a skill Mary Beth has developed in being Other Centered when she captures the lives of others and remembers them in an interesting retelling of the experience. She is interested and it becomes interesting. 

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