Grace in Relationships
I just ordered Mark Nepo’s new poetry book The Fifth Season where Nepo embraces his aging process and his final act. I pre-ordered his book as I want to read his perceptions and awareness of what being an elder is like for him; how specifically he has changed. While I purchased that today, I listened to a new podcast by two twenty something year old friends who are very curious and aware of a longer life trajectory ahead of them. I am witnessing and fascinated by the generational pulses in front of me.
I am changing. All of us are and do; especially if we are conscious and we are committed to spiritual evolution. The question as I age is “am I becoming more of my Spirit Self or am I grounded in my human emotional/judgement self?” Another question, “where am I cultivating and embracing love?” I meet these questions every day as I actively switch between my perception of life that is unfolding right in front of me at this moment and my Deep Spirit Self who is aware of its transitory nature. I honor what I am witnessing or participating in and my human response to that. Yet, I don’t dwell there. I don’t spiritual by-pass, either. I feel the WHOLE thing as I love myself through the moment inviting the Higher Awareness of Divine Spirit into the mix (if I left it out). I’m actually coming to see that there is no separation between what I consider to be human and spiritual. Emotions are holy and sacred. I, as a person having them, are too. And I’m seeing appreciation within and all around me. External public life is chaotic right now and yet it is still life and I am still living. Can I, will I, bring Grace to myself and to others?
I binge watched the follow-up to Sex in the City — And Just Like That — A perfect title for accepting life the way it unfolds and meeting it. I loved the series Sex in the City when I was younger. I resonated with the friendships and the scandalous conversation around sex which was still kind of naughty thirty years ago (side note: I am so glad that much of the shame isn’t present nowadays). Like many of you I had a group of “ride and die” girlfriends (I still have them) who I did coffee with, clubs with, lunches with and we shared what was unfolding in our lives. The conversations in the series Sex in the City tended to be more shallow and surfacey. Just like my own thirty-something year old self. Fashion was important. How other people saw me was important. I thought opinions were the same as truth. In the Sex and the City series if a man cheated on Carrie Bradshaw I have no doubt she would have been heart broken, dumped him, and the story line would have continued through six or seven episodes. In And Just Like That, Carrie develops a friendship with Aiden’s ex-wife Cathy and witnesses the intensity of raising a child with developmental issues. All of us can relate to the heaviness of this. After a rough night Aiden sleeps with his ex-wife while in a committed relationship with Carrie and in less than a three minute dialog Carrie says to him, “I understand how that could happen.” They hug each other and have a conversation about their relationship with each other. The entire interchange demonstrated a maturity and grace which comes with age and the valuing of love. Perspective.
I take this awareness with me as I move forward this week. Grateful I am still above ground. Discerning about relationships and committed to demonstrating Grace in the ones I have. For-giveness is about giving-forth. What am I giving forth and what am I leaving behind?
Holding You in Divine Love and Grace,
