It's Not About You!

I noticed something.

So often, we put the actions, words, and aspects of others' lives in terms of our own experience.

Here's an example: I have a friend who's taking a 3-week motorcycle journey across the U.S. Before his departure, I made a mini-scrapbook to commemorate the journey. This is the content:

This journey is the only one of its kind.

This time,
this experience,
this exploration,
can never be recaptured
in the same way again... ever.
It can only be maximized by fully
enjoying - and being present in -
every moment.

Whatever those moments contain,
they exist solely for you... to breathe,
to laugh, to learn, to enjoy, to grow,
to change. They are opportunities
to see all of life from a new perspective.

Soon enough this will be a memory...
an experience to enhance the richness
of your life without the ability to recall
any but the most memorable aspects
and influences.

I wish you every colorful, enchanting, diverse,
stimulating, energizing, thought-provoking,
and life-altering experience on your journey.

Abundant travel blessings,


Back to my observation:

What I noticed is that it takes a special--and important--awareness to see the actions, words and aspects of others' lives as having nothing at all to do with us.

Using my friend's journey as an example, it has nothing to do with me. Instead of sharing what I wished for his experience, I could have made it about me; how I might miss him, what his experience would mean to my life and me, how his exploration would provide insight into our connection. No, no, and no. It is for him... exclusively. To make it about me indicates I am so focused on myself that I cannot step out and away from me to see the greater picture... that all of life is not about me!

We can become so over sensitized that we completely lose perspective. We walk around with a false sense that everything circulates in relation to us. When you think about it, making everything about us is a form of arrogance. We cannot afford to take things personally and we cannot make the lives of others about us.

So rarely does what people say, think or do have anything to do with us. It has everything to do with their individual and solitary path and how they perceive the world through their chosen filter.

When you see an opportunity, make the circumstance in front of you about the other person. Focus on them. Provide support. If inspired, lend a helping hand or word of support. And release yourself from the idea that it has anything to do with you. It probably doesn't!

Free yourself. The life you have is your own. Place the bulk of your energies there and you'll find plenty of work! Allow others their own experience... for that is their sacred journey.

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