Polyprint Watercolor, ~liz Wessel

 In Henri Nouwen’s book, The Wounded Healer he suggests that
to communicate with another we need hold back and allow space. He shared these wonderful insights of counselor James Hillman. “This withdrawal, rather than going-out-to meet
the other, is an intense act of concentration, a model for which can be found
in the Jewish mystical doctrine of Tsimtsum. God is omnipresent and omnipotent
was everywhere. He filled the universe with his Being. How then could creation
come about?…God had to create by withdrawal; He created the not-Him, the
other, by self-concentration…On the human level, withdrawal of myself aids the
other to come into being.”

 Nouwen adds his own illuminating thoughts, “But human withdrawal
can be a very painful and lonely process, because it forces us to face directly
our own condition in all its beauty as well as misery. When we are not afraid
to enter into our own center and to concentrate on the stirrings of our own
soul, we come to know that being alive means being loved. This experience tells
us that we can only love because we are born out of love, that we can only give
because our life is a gift, and that we can only make others free because we
are set free by Him whose heart is greater than ours. When we have found the
anchor places of our lives in our own center, we can be free to let others
enter into the space created for them and allow them to dance their own dance,
sing their own song, and speak their own language without fear. Then our
presence is no longer threatening and demanding but inviting and liberating.”

I have heard is said, and it is my experience, that there is really no difference between the giver and the receiver. As caregivers we soon discover that each encounter teaches us and changes us for the better. "For it is in the giving, that we receive." ~Saint Frances