{"id":1661,"date":"2011-03-13T20:48:17","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T01:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2011-03-13T20:48:17","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T01:48:17","slug":"being-a-witness-to-someones-life-is-a-wonderful-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1661","title":{"rendered":"Being a witness to someone’s life is a wonderful gift. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

I am currently reading a great book: Someone Knows My Name,<\/strong> by Canadian author, Lawrence Hill. \u00a0It’s a book about the transportation of Africans into America in the mid 1700’s and later. \u00a0The story is told through the eyes of one young female who was torn from her home and her family at the age of eleven, forced to travel by foot hundreds of miles to the slave boats and then brought here and sold.<\/p>\n

Her account of the trip, both the deaths and survival stories and her memories of those people left behind is told in meticulous detail. \u00a0What has moved me the most is her “knowing<\/em>” that remembering people by name and knowing from where they came is placing them in a scared spiritual space, one that will “cradle them” for all time. \u00a0Remembering one another is what honors our existence.<\/p>\n

I think that’s akin to what we do for one another in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon and other 12 step groups too. \u00a0We serve as witnesses to each other. \u00a0We listen intently, hold gently to our hearts one another’s stories and murmur prayers for peace after each of us shares our pain. \u00a0No one is forgotten who has allowed themselves to be known. \u00a0And it’s our “work” in the rooms to make sure each person present understands that it’s safe to allow us in to the private spaces of one another’s minds. \u00a0As we have so often heard it said, secrets keep us sick<\/em>. \u00a0But there is a place where our healing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Lest I be misunderstood, I think we serve as witnesses to each other every where we go. \u00a0We don’t offer “that gift” only to others in the fellowship, but to every one we acknowledge on the street, in the stores, on the job. \u00a0Being acknowledged by someone every day can surely make the difference some one might need to go on for one more day.<\/p>\n

There are so many tiny ways to witness: a smile, \u00a0a hello, a phone call or a letter or even an email reaches out to those we live among. \u00a0Taking the time, the tiny amount of time it takes to greet someone else every day in some fashion lets us know we have been “witnessed<\/em><\/strong>” too. \u00a0Both of us are honored in this act. Paying the honor forward is what heals us and the world around us. \u00a0Are you ready to do your part today?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am currently reading a great book: Someone Knows My Name, by Canadian author, Lawrence Hill. \u00a0It’s a book about the transportation of Africans into America in the mid 1700’s and later. \u00a0The story is told through the eyes of one young female who was torn from her home and her family at the age […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-circle-of-family-and-friends-you-and-your-personal-community","category-what-i-believe-you-and-your-higher-power"],"yoast_head":"\nBeing a witness to someone's life is a wonderful gift. . . | Karen Casey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1661\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being a witness to someone's life is a wonderful gift. . . | Karen Casey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am currently reading a great book: Someone Knows My Name, by Canadian author, Lawrence Hill. \u00a0It’s a book about the transportation of Africans into America in the mid 1700’s and later. \u00a0The story is told through the eyes of one young female who was torn from her home and her family at the age […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1661\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Karen Casey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-14T01:48:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"karencasey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"karencasey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/?p=1661#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/?p=1661\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"karencasey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be42ec49697eba07d84ddf86ace97639\"},\"headline\":\"Being a witness to someone’s life is a wonderful gift. . .\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-14T01:48:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/?p=1661\"},\"wordCount\":427,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Circle of Family and Friends - 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