This morning’s daily quote by Dr. Wayne Dyer caused my mind to wander…
“The last suit that you wear, you don’t need any pockets.”
When you get right down to it, the important things in life simply aren’t about material things. If that is so, then what is important in life? Surely it would be quite a lonely existence were it not for the people who intersect our lives.
Last week a member of my immediate family was confined to a foreign ICU unit halfway around the world with a pulmonary embolus lodged in his young body. It was quite a wake-up call for what is truly important in life.
Interestingly, despite the need for relationships, there are associated challenges, challenges that impact our physical and mental health and well-being. As we enter into relationships with the various people in our lives, together we weave many colorful twists and turns as we journey our way through life. Happiness and joy are contrasted with misunderstandings and pain. The holiday season seems to only heighten the various sensitivities and human complexities.
Eknath Easwaran aptly stated, “Human relationships are the perfect tool for sanding away our rough edges and getting at the core of divinity within us.”
The newsletter “Higher Awareness” articulated well the impact of relationships:
“Relationships naturally bring out into full view our desires, attachments and unconscious programs – our likes, dislikes, belief systems, judgments, compulsions, conformities, etc. Relationships challenge us because they take us deep into thoughts, feelings and experiences we have suppressed for a lifetime. That’s why they provide the very best arena for personal growth!”
Our relationships with others, and how we deal with those relationships, propels us to the edge where personal growth takes place.
Sometimes we make the mark, and sometimes we make mistakes, missing our target completely. Whenever we slip, it is important to pick ourselves back up, shake off the dust, and start down the road again…sanding away the rough edges.
Sometimes we are blind to the divine within each of us. Ah, the brilliance that is there when we look past the rough edges.
Rosie,
Thank you for such an enlightening posting that is so very true.
Jenn