Searched My Soul Today…
Here is What I Found.
1. Be mindful of those who are drawn to “parts” of you that are useful to them, while dismissing “parts” of you that no longer provide them with a means to a self serving purpose. Be mindful that the acceptance of others is often always conditional, under the disguise that it is not.
2. Be mindful of your own suffering, and those who are drawn to you with offers to alleviate this suffering in some way. Be mindful of the space in which you have found yourself, which leads you to accept a perceived genuine act of kindness from another. Be mindful that the helping hand on the part of a stranger, is far too often, more genuine than the helping hand of one you may have considered a friend.
3. Be mindful of those with whom you share…others will not have the courage to find compassion for your pain…and be brave enough to just “stay” with you in this space. Most will turn away from you. Others will focus on finding a way “fix it” as a means to make the feeling of having to share in your pain go away. Others will seek to turn your pain into a dynamic of power, of control, with the self serving purpose of removing the mirror that brings to their awareness, the soul they have been terrified to see.
4. Be mindful of those who seek to discredit your intentions and your character. This says far more about their intentions and their character, than it does about yours.
5. Be mindful of those who envy your connections and your relationships with others. Those who truly understand and value the gifts you have shared with them, believe in the goodness and purpose, of sharing these gifts with others.
6. Be mindful of those who choose to expend their time and energy building an army of followers around them, with the sole purpose of creating an army behind them, to fight their own self serving, unjust and unfair war.
7. Be mindful that there are those who want nothing more than to see you fail, and will find justification in adding to your struggle. This is the way of the coward, and is based on insecurity and fear.
8. Be mindful of those who offer of themselves, when it seems that you have nothing to offer them in return. There are very few souls with the awareness, courage, and compassion, required to genuinely give of oneself in this manner. Be mindful that these genuine souls…do and always will exist…be one…and you shall find one.
9. Be mindful of those who stay…who share your space of pain…who find compassion in your struggle…who accept all of you, not parts of you…who offer a helping hand…who want to listen and understand your story…who believe your journey is your own and honor it…who will face your fears along side you…instead of walking away and watching you face them alone. Who will fight for you when you are wounded…who value your willingness to share your gifts with them, and believe these gifts are to be shared with the world…those who are fearless enough, those who are loving enough, those who are aware enough, to take your hand and walk with you, because they now what it is like to find yourself, traveling a journey alone.
~nj~
