'YOUR FAITH HAS MADE YOU WELL'
Just to sit with a dear friend who is experiencing pain or grief or anger, or stuck temporarily in a view that there is something horribly wrong with the world...
Just to be there with them, and for them, without a plan, without expectations, without judgements, without pity, without trying to ‘fix’ them in any way, or manipulate their experience to suit your idea of how it should be, in order to remove your discomfort...
Just to listen, just to receive their experience, without playing the
role of ‘the one who knows’, 'the enlightened one', 'the one with all
the answers' or even 'the great listener', without pretending in any
way...
Just to allow them to feel what they feel, to breathe how they breathe, to stay present with them in the midst of their nightmare, to be silent if necessary, to reflect their experience back at them in words spoken from silence, to show that you are listening, to shine light on the darkest places...
... this can be the beginning of great healing, for you and your dear friend.
When we go beyond mind-created roles of 'victim' and 'saviour', 'teacher' and 'student', even 'healer' and 'healed', and we truly meet in not-knowing, unprotected and undefended, open to life's vast intelligence, true healing is possible.
We cannot heal in the past, friends. We cannot heal in the future, and it is not our job to fix others in the present. We can only bring our living presence, our deep listening, our tender curiosity to 'what is', and trust the healing power that lies within each of us, however 'sick' or 'beyond help' we have judged ourselves or others to be.
Healing is not measured in terms of how many symptoms have disappeared, or how many test results have come back 'negative', but in terms of how deeply we can love, how beautifully we can dream, how profoundly we can connect, how willingly we can show up for life, even when we'd rather not show up at all.
Just to allow them to feel what they feel, to breathe how they breathe, to stay present with them in the midst of their nightmare, to be silent if necessary, to reflect their experience back at them in words spoken from silence, to show that you are listening, to shine light on the darkest places...
... this can be the beginning of great healing, for you and your dear friend.
When we go beyond mind-created roles of 'victim' and 'saviour', 'teacher' and 'student', even 'healer' and 'healed', and we truly meet in not-knowing, unprotected and undefended, open to life's vast intelligence, true healing is possible.
We cannot heal in the past, friends. We cannot heal in the future, and it is not our job to fix others in the present. We can only bring our living presence, our deep listening, our tender curiosity to 'what is', and trust the healing power that lies within each of us, however 'sick' or 'beyond help' we have judged ourselves or others to be.
Healing is not measured in terms of how many symptoms have disappeared, or how many test results have come back 'negative', but in terms of how deeply we can love, how beautifully we can dream, how profoundly we can connect, how willingly we can show up for life, even when we'd rather not show up at all.
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