As we move through life we measure everything around us according to our perception. One thing is taller, another is shorter. One thing is living, another is not.
How do we measure others? Light? Heavy? Light? Dark? Nice? Rude? Sweet? Inconsiderate? Handsome? Beautiful? Rich? Poor? Struggling? Confident? Insignificant? Important?
How do we measure ourselves? Weak? Powerful? Goddess? Peon? Thin? Fat? Scared? Anxious? Disgusting? What scale do your use to measure yourself?
How we measure ourselves and others determines how we focus the lens of our attention and on what facet. That focus determines our experience.
More and more I find that I can focus through whatever facet I choose and change at will. From my perspective any facet of the diamond we call life that I look through, inspires me to feel this life is indeed a treasure.
Is it a cliff or Mother Nature’s pallet, or both? Photo by Vicki Willoughby
From that point of view my life is a treasure, and so is everyone else’s. We tend to measure each other according to money and acquisition, who has what and who has not and we measure ourselves that way as well.
Our culture often looks from the outside to judge the whole of a situation without ever looking within, or looking beyond. An old song comes to mind, “What if God was One of Us?” . . . “Just a stranger on a bus”. . . What if that person holding the sign at the intersection that says, “Will Work For Food” is a Vietnam Vet who saved a dozen of his fellow soldiers during the course of his tour of duty, who came home to find that nothing he returned to was the same and that he no longer could function the same? Does that person holding that sign deserve your judgment of how they ended up there, or do they deserve a moment of your time, even if its only to send them love from your heart? Does that person deserve a second look or an attitude, born of ignorance of who is really connected with that facade you see?
Each of us is more than the money we make, more than the clothes we wear and beyond these bodies we see, but will you take the time to look?
To my mind, everything we see is but a reflection of what we are. We have a choice of the point of view from which we see and feel. I have changed mine, when I walk down the street and see a person who appears homeless, dragging some sort of cart behind them, I look upon them and say, “Hello God, thank you for showing up for me today and reminding me that we all have our lives to live whatever they look like.” I spend that moment with love. Love for the life I am privileged to live, love for another person who showed up in it, love to send to their heart because each of us knows there is no “easy” road here in this life.
These things we measure ourselves by on the outside aren’t even real to our souls. That car that we drive, that house that we live in those clothes that we wear, are merely loans. They are a loan from our Mother, who will take them back when we are done playing on this playground she and our Father provided for us. Our souls know that these are the props of the play that we’ve stepped on the stage of and that they will pass, whatever they are, including our bodies and what we’re left with is who we truly are, without this body, without that car, without that house, just our essence.
What we see and experience around ourselves is observed by what is within us and it is a consistent invitation to express and experience what that truly is in each moment, but will you accept the invitation and show up to step into, claim and live who you truly are?
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