“Your task is not
to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.” -Rumi

  We have a responsibility to ourselves and others to attend
to the barriers that prevent us from being a loving, positive force in our
little pocket of the universe.  I am
beginning to realize that my scars will always be a part of me but I also know that I am/we are much more than our
woundings.

 I’ve heard it said
that the people in our lives who stir up our deepest wounds are our greatest
teachers because they mirror back to us the places where we are stuck. I
believe that our paths cross for a reason. Perhaps, we harbor fears of abandonment, or think we are not good enough or worthy enough, or feel unlovable.  When our vulnerability is unmasked, it can serve as
a catalyst for healing if we are willing to pause, surrender and begin to see. Our friends unknowingly
help us see what needs our attention.  We can begin to examine our difficulties in the safety of kindness, asking for Love's guidance, while trusting in our basic goodness.

Still, I find it
very hard to offer my full presence when intense feelings arise.  My lens through which I see gets distorted by old scars. What I find sad is the suffering I can create for myself and those I love. Therefore, I am highly motivated to release futile
patterns or as Einstein’s coined it, delusions of separateness.

"A human being is a
part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time
and space. He/she experiences himself, his/her thoughts and feelings as
something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his
consciousness.

Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such
achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner
security". -Albert Einstein 

Forgiveness is essential in healing. According
to Tara Brach, forgiveness is about letting go of whatever prevents us from keeping our heart open. It can mean letting go of resentments, anger, blame, guilt or feeling like a victim.

This morning, I opened my e-mail and read this synchronous message by Fr. Richard Rohr, "When we forgive, we have to let go of our own feelings, our own ego, our own
offended identity, and find our identity at a completely different level—the
divine level. I even wonder if it is possible to know God at all—outside of the
mystery of forgiveness (Luke 1:77)."

We are spiritual beings that are part of something much bigger
than our individual selves.  I believe
our purpose in life is to discover our belonging in one another.
My aspiration is to heal all the barriers that prevent this.  Recently, an epiphany jolted me like lightening, when I shifted the focus of my lens to that of another; I felt a deep sense of compassion expanding in my chest.
  

We live, we love, we leave; there is tremendous beauty, joy
and sadness in the fleeting nature of life. Each day unfolds in birth, death and resurrection
until all that is left is our true essence; Love.

When I open my eyes in this moment of surrender, my heart unfolds in a tenderness
that is almost too much to bear.

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to
look through each other's eyes for an instant?” –Henry David Thoreau

~liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala by ~liz

Tara Brach offers free podcast teachings and guided meditations
that I find extremely helpful and healing.  If
interested in learning more I invite you go to: http://tarabrach.com/audioarchives2012.html