Thoughts 5.20.22

I’m learning we do not exist soundly and cleanly within ourselves. Aspects are bound, and formed cleanly, into the edges of a temporal frame. The borders of my body have an absolute end. Even my mind, maintaining the ability to stretch, grow and expand based on my life experiences, is still housed succinctly within myself. Yet in some mysterious and cosmic way, we have this ability to allow our hearts, our very souls, to move beyond ourselves. The ability of my heart to expand beyond who I am and to take on the hurt, joy, pain, happiness, fear, and courage of others is what makes our ability to connect so infinitely beautiful. How is it possible that I can hear the story of deep pain and then powerful overcoming, and feel it as if it were some distant memory of my own? Why do I tear up when I see the tears of others? What in us allows joy to be infectious, smiles to spread? I think we are innately wired for this type of expansion of self. Some could argue our ableness to “take on” is what built communal connection and provided protection. I would likely agree, but I would also lean toward a belief in an intentional placement of these expansive abilities. Like most things in life, connecting deeply to perfect strangers and those closest to us has in it a shadow side. I think we can project from ourselves as well as take, on the fear, ugliness, trauma, and hurt we all inevitably experience. We can allow the unresolved depths and unsavory parts of life to fly across our interconnected spheres of existence. If we live oblivious to the comings and goings of these aspects, I think we can harm others and also ourselves. May we, however, be the people who allow the good, the happiness, the peace the joy, and the countless other fruits found in optimistic and hopeful living to be what expands beyond the borders of ourselves. May we find the ways in which we are filled, find ways in which we can heal, and then for our overflow to be that which fills others. The feelings in our hearts and souls built through the tumultuous and vacillating experience of life tend to fly without passports, but I want to always let my love lead beyond the intercrossing borders of myself.