My thought for the day (to work toward living an authentic life):
About 7 years ago in California, we met a very wise, older woman that shared some brilliant words with us…words that have stuck with us until this very day and will continue to do so. They have kept us in a loving, grateful ‘present’ outlook within our life together.
My incredibly patient and loving husband has had to endure some difficult, horrific family situations for the past 20+ years from his previous life. I’ve done my absolute best to be the rock he needed, in the most difficult of times. He needed to hear, back then, that he was on the right path to becoming his authentic self.
With a lovely, wise smile, she lifted her head and she said most stoically, “Family is not necessarily one made of blood”.
WOW! That was all we could say after these words were said by this lovely woman, and we looked at each other and knew that right then and there, we ‘got it’. There were no more strings attached to my husband. Those words resonated so deeply in the two of us that it immediately shifted our outlook on our circumstances. We realized at that moment there were no truer words than that. We did not need to live a tumultuous life indebted to engage with others that have no positive contribution to our well-being, even if they were ‘family’.
Surrounded now with peace and love, we have grown closer and we have “soul sisters”, “soul children” (Ken has my daughter Erinn and a few more including Mike – and so do I!!), “soul brothers”, “soul moms” (Ken has my mom and others too).
We have built our life enmeshed with people that share our common energies and beliefs in kindness and gratefulness and the betterment of human lives. We’ve come to look at societal norms and cultural expectations as a form of judgment that we can be so ever harsh with ourselves over. Judgment and guilt are mere illusions.
Time to let it go of our harsh judgements of ourselves and watch the good stuff come in. Mistakes and poor judgment from the past do not need to be brought into the present and future and it’s okay to FORGIVE YOURSELF from the past and love yourself for the path you choose for the future, however it may be viewed by others. We (as a ‘soul family’) practice this every day.
It’s time to LIVE!