Tags
Courage, Curiosity, Eyes, family, Fear, Habits, heart, Life, Living, Love, Neighbor, New, New way, Open, Openness, perspective, Real life, Seeing, Stirred, Stranger, transformation, Vulnerability
I have started something new. It has had such a profound, positive impact on my life I now must share it with you:
I have started perceiving people we customarily refer to as “strangers”, instead as “family members I just haven’t met yet”.
That is what I already believe anyway, I’m just intentionally putting it into practice now. It has changed my world!! Truly. I’m convinced it is what changes our world. It transforms our perspective from one that functions out of reactivity due to fear and thus closing off, to one that functions out of responsiveness stirred by love and curiosity, and thus we open up. It’s a more vulnerable way to live, but let me tell you, that vulnerability is what enables us to have the deepest, richest, most treasured experiences life has to offer. Putting this perspective into practice the last two months I have had encounters with people I would say have been some of the most fulfilling and transformative of my life.
Living with this mindset has taught me how excellent and special our stories are–and that each is worth sharing and certainly worth being heard. We really are marvelous beings! Not based on what we do, though that can contribute to who we are in beautiful ways, but we are absolutely magnificent just because we exist–just because we are.
So, I encourage you to go out and try this perspective on for size. Put it into practice and see what happens. Believe me, it takes practice. It is a conscious effort. Such a way of being and perceiving doesn’t come naturally, our instincts lean toward survival which usually results in defensiveness for protection’s sake. Though, practicing love and facing fears changes that. We discover a life far more satisfying than survival has to offer, one that is truly worthy of being called life.