How we see creates our world.
Born of Love, we enter life with a precious open receptivity. Very early, we communicate our most basic needs for nourishment, comfort and love. As inquisitive children, we are curious to test reality. In this wondrous time of discovery, we may stumble upon danger and get stung or find ourselves warmly wrapped in the exquisite intimacy of love.
Growing up we learn how to navigate in our world. Our minds like to categorize and make distinctions as we begin to form future assumptions based on our experiences. Inevitably, our fragile hearts will encounter hurt, pain and loss. This is our common human experience and bonds us one to another.
We know our woundings can cut deep to our core. Pain, is viewed by the collective as an unattractive weakness. So we hide these feelings in our longing for acceptance and belonging. Scars form as we bury the hurt and move forward on our life journey. I believe it is important to recognize how our past influences our response in new situations. Personally, I think my past wounds color how I see and they unknowingly touch upon every interaction affecting how I perceive. Yet, I am forever grateful because as my heart cracked open outpoured empathy for others.
Hurts left unresolved never completely heal, rather they lurk beneath the surface and rear their ugly heads now and again, often with unexpected intensity. If we find ourselves overwhelmed or over reacting it helps to pause and step out of the situation. Over-reacting is a good clue that there is something deeper going on that needs our attention. It may help to ask oneself if there is…
Our assumptions can create a narrow worldview that occludes the big picture. In attempts to feel safe and avoid future hurt we try to control life by creating neat and orderly little boxes to exist in. We create patterns of predictability, which leads to the numbing boredom that Erie so eloquently touched upon this week. We may feel stuck and attempt to anesthetize our pain and anxiety with various unhealthy life style choices. Ugh…are we destined to repeat the same mistakes over again and again? Perhaps so, at least until we are willing to learn to see differently or to learn our life lesson that Love is trying to teach us.
With a little willingness….
There is nothing I need do… just trust in Love…and listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance as I let go of the story line to acknowledge what lies beneath it all. Listen and let go of the assumptions and preconceived notions we make about ourselves and others.
Just a little shift of my lens and my worldview expands with new vistas on the horizon.
With just a little willingness, forgiveness shifts my focus into the light of compassion.
There is a bigger picture beyond my narrow self-absorbing thoughts that connects me to you and something greater than ourselves.
With just a little willingness… my focus shifts from trying to mold my world into something else… and instead accept this moment in all its fullness and emptiness.
With a little willingness I might be able to offer friendship…to the rejected parts of me and you that remain isolated in darkness just waiting to be invited into the full light of day.
With just a little willingness, how might we greet this day?
~liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolor by ~liz
Journal of Sacred Work 
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