"Beyond work, survival, relationships, even family, we become aware of our own profound duty to our own life." – John O'Donohue
The first part of the above sentence made sense to me. The rest of it startled me. It doesn't seem right to me that I would place a duty to my own life ahead of other relationships. For someone like me, everything is relationships.
Then I remembered my own writing that in order to live the most sacred relationships with others, we need to first tend our relationship with ourselves.
O'Donohue's list is not exclusive. The richest lives live out each of the elements he describes.
Our life in this world consists of encounters. Whether they are sacred or not depends heavily on what we bring to each encounter.
If we are fully present to ourselves when we are alone, we will discover the Love that lives within. In this way, we are empowered to be present to every other encounter – whether with another person, with the sea, or with the forest.
The quality of every other relationship we have depends upon accepting ourselves and others as carriers of God's light.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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