We bring ourselves heart, soul, mind, and strength to life.

Problem.

To love is to make ourselves vulnerable to the thoughts and words and actions of another.  We cannot control the response of another.

We hold our “art” out in front of me, offering it.  Pause.  There’s a hiatus moment when the gift is surrendered, out my of control and not yet received.

This happens thousands of time every day.  We smile at someone – pause – will they smile back?  I hold the door open for someone – pause – will they even make eye contact and acknowledge my presence?  I share something in a team which is important to me – pause – will it be received by a motion or a word, or will it fall into silence.  Every day for you too.

‘Musashi understood the observing eye sees simply what is there.  The perceiving eye sees more than what is there.’*

What happens if the gift is not received?  There’s a small twang of pain.  Maybe we think, “That’s the last time, I’ll open the door, smile at a stranger, share something in a public setting.”

Now that I notice the pain, what will I do with it?

‘Struggling with one’s own shadow self, facing interior conflicts and moral failures, undergoing rejection and abandonment, daily humiliations, experiencing any kind of abuse, or any form of limitation: all are gateways into deeper consciousness and the flowering of the soul.’**

(*An insight from the 16th Century Sumarai Musashi, from Ryan Holliday’s The Obstacle is the Way.)
(**From Richard Rohr’s The Naked Now.)