Day
Two
“Go
on your own journey.”
Melody
Beattie (Journey to the Heart)
This
is a good day to ponder a few questions: (1) Where is the bulk of my
energy going? (2) Is this where I want it to go? (3) If not, how can
I redirect it into more productive areas?
From
time to time, I take stock of how I spend my time here on planet
Earth. Perhaps you do, too. I wrote recently about the expenditure of
physical, mental and emotional energy around the holidays, and its
impact on our fatigue level. Well, it extends well beyond the
holidays. It is easy when we live in a family, or a close friendship
community, to get lost in the day-to-day adventures and issues of
others whom we love. This is not a bad thing; when we love someone,
we care what happens to them. We want to help. But sometimes, we take
it on as our problem. We become so enmeshed in their lives, that
we lose track of where we end and they begin. We may slow down long
enough to recognize that we're exhausted, but not long enough to find
a solution to our own problem—which is that all our energy is going
out instead of being available for our own life's journey.
With
the best of intentions, we may want to change a loved one's
situation. We may want to give them answers that are obvious to us.
We hurt when we see them struggle, and want to offer our own
solutions to end the pain. As empathetic human beings, it is difficult
to watch our children, parents, or friends wrestle with major difficulties. What we too often lose track of, however, is that
these challenges belong to another soul. And, that soul may require
them to grow.
Our
own journey may involve learning how to sort out what is ours from
what is not ours. It may be learning to rein in our tendency to get
involved in other peoples' lives to such an extent that we are
actually intrusive, rather than helpful. It could be learning
patience—at least enough to wait until we're asked to offer our
advice. Our soul's task may be learning how to disengage, and pull
our energy back to ourselves to invest in our own life lessons. These
are my challenges, certainly, and those of many people I know.
Life
is a school for learning. We are all here with an assignment. We can
support one another, but your assignment may be different from mine.
I won't have the answers to your questions, and vice versa. Today,
let's walk our own path.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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