Recently I met an old friend
for lunch. She had changed. Or was that me who had changed…dramatically. I had
always enjoyed her intelligence, humor and sharp wit.
This time she was full of viperous hatred and anger; so highly judgmental it was palpable toxicity in the air. She spouted nonsense, attacks and prejudice about many things.
I kept redirecting the conversation away from almost every topic trying to find some common places. Our politics, thoughts, intentions and life experiences were so dramatically different I wondered how I could still like her.
This time she was full of viperous hatred and anger; so highly judgmental it was palpable toxicity in the air. She spouted nonsense, attacks and prejudice about many things.
I kept redirecting the conversation away from almost every topic trying to find some common places. Our politics, thoughts, intentions and life experiences were so dramatically different I wondered how I could still like her.
Later when explaining this experience to a friend, he said “How can you stand to be around such a person?” That question was an eye opener. On some level I still like her. Does that make me stupid, a masochist, or what?
I have always found unusual people fascinating. I know there is
something to be experienced and learned from them. I know me; and I want to
know ‘not me’.
I realized that was an easy reason to be less judgmental.
We may be odd friends but we are still friends.
Since we really are all One, the ‘not me’ is just an unexplored aspect of me and it’s time to explore and embrace those parts too.
No difference from having an infection or even just a hangnail. It’s still a part of me, perhaps foreign to my normal self, and always worth loving. In fact, if we don’t love those foreign aspects, we create even more disharmony in our own body.
Well, I know I choose the pathway to harmony that takes a few unfamiliar and uncomfortable twists and turns; whether it’s a hangnail or a friend.
One appears to be inside my physical body; the other appears to be outside it. But everything affects all parts of existence; and Love levels the playing field, reducing it all to the common denominator of connectedness.
Loving and our relationship to it all are the hope of joy and peace in the world.
We may be odd friends but we are still friends.
Since we really are all One, the ‘not me’ is just an unexplored aspect of me and it’s time to explore and embrace those parts too.
No difference from having an infection or even just a hangnail. It’s still a part of me, perhaps foreign to my normal self, and always worth loving. In fact, if we don’t love those foreign aspects, we create even more disharmony in our own body.
Well, I know I choose the pathway to harmony that takes a few unfamiliar and uncomfortable twists and turns; whether it’s a hangnail or a friend.
One appears to be inside my physical body; the other appears to be outside it. But everything affects all parts of existence; and Love levels the playing field, reducing it all to the common denominator of connectedness.
Loving and our relationship to it all are the hope of joy and peace in the world.
If you want to see an old friend, an old idea or yourself in a new way, just do it. Maybe you'd like to schedule a Breath of Fresh Air Reading with Dolly.
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