All We Have Is All We Need
On the path with others: Improving our relationships through our willingness to learn, forgive and make amends.
The men and women sharing our journey today, along with those who shared it yesterday and those who will come calling tomorrow have not made their appearances coincidentally. We share this path by design because of the lessons we need to learn from one another and it’s within these carefully selected relationships that the lessons present themselves.
Just because we have “selected” one another doesn’t make every experience easy. Some are very difficult, in fact. But generally, the difficulty lies in our resistance to embracing the lesson, to seeing the experience as hopeful or beneficial or spiritual or necessary to the growth we are ready to enjoy. And our resistance generally invites resistance from our “teacher” too.
Being in the role of teacher or student in all our relationships is “the constant” in our lives. And we switch roles, moment by moment.
That’s the exciting news, and it makes all interactions purposeful. We may not choose to appreciate the purpose or learn the lesson that’s calling to us and that’s okay. We are promised a similar experience at another time. There is no time frame that we are being held to. We are held only to the lessons. When we learn them is up to us.
The ultimate lesson, of course, is forgiveness. Forgiveness of ourselves and one another. And we can best accomplish this through making amends when we have harmed ourselves or others. The healing that fills our hearts and the hearts of our companions on this path through the act of making an amend is the substance that allows each one of us to carry the message of hope and love to all the people we meet on a daily basis, people who have been invited to cross our path even though unbeknownst to us.
The small but powerful ideas in this section will help you, one day at a time, to carefully look at your relationships, approaching them more lovingly or openly or honestly, with full awareness that they are exactly the relationships you need in order to grow into the person you are meant to be. Not all relationships seem like a blessing when we’re in the midst of an argument but if we remember that all arguments are masking fear and that a loving response is always the right response, we can incorporate every experience into our journey in a way that makes our “trip” what it is really supposed to be.
Let’s not waste any more time. Let’s look at every person and every experience throughout the day with the joy and gratitude that is deserved. Without these people, without these experiences, we’d not be capable of doing the work we have been “called” here to do. No one of us is without purpose just as no experience is without purpose. We must do our part toward making this world a more peaceful place and each person we meet is the opportunity that’s been sent to us for extending the love that is necessary for the healing of our personal lives along with our communities and then the world beyond us too.
10 Simple Suggestions that will help you on your path:
Only one person has to be kind for a relationship or situation to dramatically change. I will be kind today.
Listening is a tool that will help heal our relationships. I can make this commitment today.
Our relationship to the world community is helped by our willingness to listen to the travelers on our path. I will pay attention to them.
Difficult relationships generally have the most to teach us. Am I willing to learn?
We need the people who are sharing our journey, all of them. They have much to teach us and we them. Do I show up for the lessons?
The primary lesson in this life is to forgive ourselves and one another. I can release any grudge or resentment I may be holding on to. I will begin by developing the willingness today.
All struggles, big and small, allow us to give and receive forgiveness.
Being willing to resolve any conflict contributes to world peace. I can do my part today by making a small decision.
Experiencing one peaceful relationship will change every experience one has.
There is really only one relationship to heal. Am I showing up lovingly?
