In January, I made a life-changing decision to simplify my life by selling or giving away most of my belongings and relocating to Panama for the next six months. My goal was to experience a culture that aligned with my values, beliefs, and, most importantly, the needs of my nervous system.
A few weeks ago, I experienced an eye-opening moment of connection and compassion here in Panama City. While I was briskly walking to a park about a mile away, I tripped and fell face-first onto the hard concrete sidewalk. If you’ve ever had a hard fall, you know that instant shock that takes over when you hit the ground. For a moment, I just lay there, stunned.
Within moments, a group of Panamanians gathered around me to offer help. Despite the language barrier—my Spanish is limited, and their English was minimal—there was no need for words. Their eyes and their body language spoke volumes. It was deeply moving to experience such genuine, unspoken compassion come through while looking into strangers’ eyes. Several ‘coddled’ me while I was still on the pavement and coming back to my senses. One kind soul, a construction worker, gently guided me arm-in-arm all the way back to my residence. Once I arrived, the staff there showered me with warmth and care, bandaging my wounds and even offering to call an ambulance. To top it off, they accompanied me all the way up to my apartment on the 37th floor to ensure I was safely settled in.
As I sit here now, reflecting on that experience, I’m finding it difficult to adequately capture the depth of what happened in words. It wasn’t just a physical interaction; it was an energetic exchange that transcended language and conventional gestures. It was clear to me that their desire to help was driven by something much deeper—heartfelt compassion—not by any sense of obligation or societal expectation. It felt as though they understood the truth that we are all interconnected, and that by helping someone else, they were also helping themselves.
From a psychological standpoint, I’m beginning to understand how healing and transformative this experience was for me. Many of us hold unconscious core beliefs that deeply influence how we navigate the world, beliefs that are often based on past experiences. One of these beliefs is the notion that "Nobody really cares about me." I realized that, tucked away in my own psyche, I too carried remnants of this belief. But after this fall and the overwhelming outpouring of kindness from strangers, that belief lost its power. In a matter of moments, the experience of being cared for by so many people, even those I’d never met, began to unravel that old, deeply ingrained belief. It’s incredible how a single act of genuine kindness can shift the course of someone’s life.
Sometimes, it takes a fall—a literal or metaphorical one—for us to break old patterns and rewire our brains. In moments like these, it becomes clear that life doesn’t happen to us, but for us.
