What if...

Yesterday I had a conversation about a “What If” approach to Life that resonated on many levels for me and for the person I was talking with. It was an approach…a perception of existence…that I have often thought about as I have travelled my own path in life and to hear this other person describe how the perception, which was something they had not thought about before, brought about the beginnings of some fundamental changes to how they managed their own anxieties about Life was inspiring.  There were many “ohhh I wonder” and “how nice would it be if.” and “can you imagine how easier life would be” shared as we picked apart this approach and the perception shift that was created simply by allowing the possibility to exist.

I have heard the “why” of this Life we find ourselves living described in many ways and most of them have usually centered around lessons. How to live, how to love, how to give, how to receive, how to accept, how to put others before ourselves, how to put ourselves before others, how to grieve, how to let in, how to let go, how to forgive, how to be, at the very least, a decent person. This world is a School…our Life a Classroom…the people either teachers or fellow students (sometimes both)…all moving in a line (sometimes feeling more like a circle) towards an eventual (and inevitable) graduation that we call Death. Did we learn “enough” to move on? To move up to the next “grade”? Are we destined to “repeat the grade” for the second time…or the thousandth time? Or is this it…a one and done?

On this particular day, in this particular moment, the discussion went beyond the “lessons of life” and ventured into the waters of learning to be compassionate to our Self. Specifically…the difficulty we have in stepping outside of ourselves…outside of our own lives…to ask…what do we need? In this moment…at this time…in this circumstance…what does this Body…this Mind…this Heart…need? We often find it easier to encourage those around us to take care of themselves, to do what it takes to be healthy and to be happy, but we often struggle to do the same when it applies to ourselves. We point out the opportunities of compassion that a loved one is missing as they navigate the various burdens of life and suggest the hundred-and-one reasons why it is okay to feel…to take a break…to cry…to breathe, but we miss those for ourselves. So how do we change this? How do we give ourselves the same compassion that we give to others?

What if…we see ourselves outside of ourselves? What if…we see ourselves as we would another? What if…we give ourselves the opportunity to ask what we need in this moment and then we give ourselves permission to have it? What if…we see ourselves as a Soul having a Human Experience rather than a Human having a Human Experience? What if the approach we were meant to take, that one we promptly forgot upon entering this Life, was to see our Human Self through our Soul Eyes? To always ask “What does this body need at this very moment?” and then give it without question, without judgement, without malice, without regret? Just as we would do for those we love.

What if…you step outside of yourself…see yourself through your Soul Eyes (and not your Human Eyes) and ask what it is your Human Self needs right now to be happy, to be healthy, to be content, to be loved, to be the best version of you that you can be…and then give yourself permission to do it…to be happy, to be healthy, to be content, to be loved, to be the best (human) version of you that you can be. 

What if we embraced the idea that we are a Soul having a Human experience and through that experience are the lessons of Life that we were always meant to learn? What if we stopped judging ourselves through the Eyes of our Ego and embraced ourselves with the love of Self Compassion? What if we supported ourselves as we support others? What if we created space for the uncomfortable to make room for the comfortable? What if we embraced the valleys of Life instead of being overwhelmed by them? Would we appreciate the Peaks more? Would we see the calm within the chaos? The creation within the destruction? The Life within the Death?

What if…

What if…

What if…

Much Love

Jayme