“We have to help where we can.” “I know how much others have helped me. We have to keep the circle of love flowing.”
By Shawn McAndrew
The sentences above were from a recent text exchange I had with a relative. A friend of mine was experiencing some emotionally painful events and my relative pledged to pray for this friend. My relative has never met my friend, but she knows how much this person means to me. The sentiment of the exchange made me think about my own highs and lows over the past few months.
The Kindness of Strangers
I recently relocated to a new state after having lived in the previous state for most of my adult life. I am back in the area where I lived as a child, and it is a very different reality. There are many pros (and some cons) to relocating. One of the biggest pros I have experienced is the kindness of strangers, as well as friends and family.
When I moved away from my family in my early 20s, I was fleeing the patterns of childhood. I wanted to get away from the pain and anger that had developed from my parents’ patterns. I was also going toward a new life, a new way of being. It took me years to find the Hoffman Process, and once I did, I was finally able to begin that new way of being.
Keep the Circle of Love Flowing
I willingly made this change and journeyed back to the area where most of my family live. I am a different person. It has been interesting to observe how I look at the world, take in my surroundings, and open myself to new adventures and experiences now. Each time I make an observation, my spirit says, “Remember how you were before you did the Process?” Or, “How different you perceive this, so many years later!”
Getting back to that circle of love, so many people have supported me and held space for me to make changes internally and externally. That has helped bring me to where I am right now. We never know how many people pray for us, think about us, care for us, or do good things for us. Whenever we have a chance, we can take the opportunity to extend that circle of love to others. We can do that by praying, thinking, caring, doing for them – loving them.
Connect With Someone
I’ve talked before about how it doesn’t take much to connect with someone – a smile, a kind word, a random act of kindness. Just acknowledging another person’s existence can be enough. The important thing is to do it. When we are upset or trying to make sense of something that has gone wrong, there is usually an opportunity to find something good to say or do.
As we slide toward winter, when many of us tend to hibernate, please make a point to reach out of that den every once in a while and say hello. Even if you just type a quick comment below, let us know you’re alive and you’ll be back at it in a few months. That will be enough. Know that we see you and we love you.