Friday, May 26, 2017

Of loneliness and connection

Just as I did on Wednesday, I'm going to give you some of Mark Nepo's words from Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What is Sacred because they speak to me so deeply. I suspect you may resonate, too.

"As a vulnerable human being, I still want to be seen and heard and understood for who I am. When bestowed without agenda, these are the gifts of love. I don't think we ever lose this need, but the absence of these affirmations no longer rules my life. ... We are like tall leaning trees. We sway in our humanness every which way, while our spirit roots firmly in an ever-deepening connection to the Earth.

"Without a felt sense of this connection to the web of life, the need to be seen and heard can rule us, overwhelm us, and even devastate us. ... To be sure, this felt lifeline between our very core and the Universe won't eliminate loneliness, but it will right-size it. This felt presence of everything larger than us won't eliminate pain, but it will absorb it.

"And though it feels like I will end each time my heart is broken, my heart only breaks into a larger version of itself. When I am present to this process, I am broken open."

There is so much in Nepo's words that I really feel no need to add my own. I encourage you to spend some time with them as I have been doing.


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