Growing Through Relationships
If we don’t risk showing up in relationships vulnerably, we miss the gift of love.
The gift of another to touch your heart from a distance can be as impactful as relationships built over time. Could a relationship be defined as the depth in which another has touched your soul? It doesn’t just mean the people with whom you pick up where you left off or who you celebrate life with. It could be as simple as someone you were associated with when you went through a challenging experience, and they remained tethered to your experience as a person of support during that time.
This is the beauty of love that shines through the kindness of another. Our softness and vulnerability allow others the space to share their light, and when our lights collide, a ripple in the universe occurs. Nothing states that we can’t access that space again.
What does it mean when our hearts create a ripple? We often miss the significance of another during these times because self-suffering is so significant we can’t see outside of ourselves. There have been people along the way who have served as a holy witness (one of my favorite terms from
Caroline Myss) during a time of patterning. The ripple becomes recognizable when you circle back around with them during suffering — different but the same.
The quality of how I show up in relationships has been my greatest teacher thus far. I’ve hired gurus to teach me the way toward mysticism. I’ve built a
daily meditation practice, listening for God’s guidance. I gave up my career path to become an entrepreneur and discover self-respect, boundaries, and love.
The relationships that have come and gone or that I found somewhat insignificant at the time, including the changing relationship with myself, have significantly contributed to peaceful living.
Part of running a business is ensuring reciprocity in the relationships we enter. It is a constant juggle of boundary setting and acceptance of where others are in their journey, even when it affects you. Endless grace is required in managing the ups and downs while practicing peaceful intentions and mirroring responsibility.
Whether considering a relationship with ourselves or others, self-reflection is necessary to understand our part. Taking responsibility through significant life transitions offers us the courage to do things differently. It’s helpful to have a meditation practice that allows one to put space and grace between the self and the situation or the person. When we fall into victimhood or blame, we’re outside of our center and not operating from truth.
Thomas Mooneagle, a local Shamanic practitioner, says that a
curse is a lie we believe about ourselves. He suggests that when we self-sacrifice or allow ourselves to be overrun by our worries and negativity, we sabotage ourselves.
So much of our reality is influenced by our perceptions, and we always have choices. We can focus on our negative view of others or our situation, or we can ask to see the gift of the experience and give the time needed to understand it better — which could be years.
Building a faith practice allows one to let go of the need to know why and to trust that all is in Divine order, and helps move through these situations and discover the ripple of love that was created.
We can match the vibration of the heart, and it comes from softness and flow. It comes from tuning in — like a radio dial, to match the frequency
of time and place. Maybe the frequency has evolved. Maybe there’s the ability to pick up on the same station, even if the music or news has
changed. You can still find the station and appreciate the familiarity of that dial.
The best way to practice hearing guidance is to slow down. When I scale back my social calendar and live in the mundanity of life, I hear God. I get the space I need to process the lessons in my face and prepare my next steps intentionally. This also helps with a golden rule: not to take things
personally. When I give myself space, my interpretations can be seen as such and released.
We grow individually when we take the time to learn from our relationships. When we grow individually, our community heals. It requires committing to self-reflection and prioritizing slowing down to experience clarity. Sometimes, it means protecting ourselves. Sometimes, it means taking responsibility. Through all of it is the underlying vibration of love, which, my friend, is truth.
