There could be more than 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy can contain 100 billion stars or more. Of those stars, imagine how many more have habitable planets.
We sometimes believe that when we are “stuck in line” at a grocery store or at a bank or in a traffic jam – that the delay is somehow happening “to us.” We sometimes believe that weather downs the beautiful day we had planned – again, as though it is happening to us personally.
On a scale of the universe, we are probably smaller than atoms on gnats, yet due to our ability to create thoughts, we sometimes imagine ourselves as larger than solar systems. We imagine we are all there is in this ever-expanding universe.
Whatever is filling our lives right now with seeming chaos, we can rest assured, it is not happening to us. We live in a grand universe. There are many more people, many more life forms, many more interactions than whatever you and I are encountering in our lives right now. That by no means makes our lives or experiences less important; in fact, considering how enormous the universe is, it just makes it all the more special that we even get a chance to experience consciousness – even with all its ups and downs.
We can become overwhelmed with the vastness, or we can be grateful that we even have the opportunity to imagine the grandeur of the universe. In the context of 100 billion plus galaxies each with 100 billion plus stars, is it really that important that some people sometimes act in ways that are not in line with how we want them to act? Is it really that significant to hold onto being right about things when we actually know so little about the universe in which we live?
By looking at the enormity of it all, we may be able to put our own angst in a larger context that allows us to step back, reassess, and then reengage our problems with a newfound perspective and energy.