Insight.

SEEING OURSELVES IN OTHERS

“Sometimes I find that I am paying more attention to other people’s processes. I come back to my own journey when I remember that nothing is really about the other person. What I see in them, as I stand and stare, is actually something I need to learn about me. I am always being taught what I need to know for my journey.”

-- Melody Beattie

I have come to understand that what I have disliked in others was what I was rejecting in myself. With that insight and letting go of that in myself, I could look at those other people and see so many qualities that were enjoyable and commendable.

Today, a lunch out was scheduled. One of the participants was a gentleman that I simply could not stand. He was impatient when things did not go right and would have fits of angry outbursts. But as we boarded the van on the way to the restaurant, I gave up my critical judgment, seeing my own impatience and angry upset in his behavior, even though it may not have been as extreme in its expression.

I began to be playful with the gentleman and found him to have an enormous sense of humor. He would laugh at my kibitzing with such gusto. He really enjoyed himself. I realized I was missing the freedom he had to laugh with such gusto.

I have been taking myself and my life too seriously. I had been focusing on what was not right with me and not seeing what was good, that needed my acknowledgement. That changed in the wink of an eye... it was where I was focusing my attention that kept me on the dark side.

The Light has dawned ...and I thank Me for being so receptive.

~ Gemma Halpern

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

-- C. G. Jung

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

-- Henry Ward Beeche