Respecting and Loving This Reality
Day 22: Seeing everything and everyone evolving brings a fresh perspective
Taking in the fresh smell of the leaves of my mint plants is how I start each early morning walk in our back garden. It’s a sensory explosion of freshness and light. That is how our reality can be if we choose it to be. Each step on this journey of exploring the book The Infinite Self by Stuart Wilde is a beautiful delight to the senses.
When we choose to respect all living things (and I believe, our homes), we can see a brighter, more loving reality for ourselves and for others. We are coming closer to understanding in this way that we are all connected. If we care for one another and see that we are all evolving, we can truly start to work together as a planet.
It’s easy to respect people when you know and love them, when they’re your friends. But it’s much harder to respect people whom you don’t know, it’s particularly hard to respect people when their energy is a bit grim. That’s the challenge. -Stuart Wilde
We have all had many challenging situations with people whose energy was difficult. That is when we are truly called to rise to the occasion and try our best to respect the person or the situation, or at the very least remain neutral. This is the ultimate test of the path, which is to remain neutral in situations where our interaction with another person has the potential to be explosive. There are people in our lives at all different levels of evolvement. We have no way of knowing where they are on their particular path. We must give them and ourselves grace when we have these encounters. They will not be perfectly peaceful all of the time. It is a practice to remain peaceful or remain neutral when a challenging situation arises. Know that you are doing your best at all times.
I have had many situations in my life where I have had to remain neutral or walk away from a situation that had very difficult energy. It is important to know that you do not have to remain in relationships or friendships with people who have very negative energy that is affecting your life. You can remain neutral to that person, you can wish them love and compassion and then you can walk away. You can be sure that they are evolving, growing and learning just like you. They will come to a different path in time.
I remember I knew a couple of people in my life that had negative or difficult energy. I am a person who loves to give. I am a very compassionate person. However, I began to understand over time that I had to walk away from them because as soon as I was around them I could tell that their energy was very negative, that they were very angry with me and there was nothing I could do at the time to change that. It was extremely difficult for me to let go, to move on, and to walk away. However, I know in my heart that these people are evolving on the path, imperfectly, just like me. Letting them go was meant to be so that both of us could find different ways to be. I often think about them, pray for them, and wish them, love.
Respect All Living Things means extending to people at least a neutral respect. You don’t have to go out of your way to please people necessarily. You don’t even have to commiserate; you can leave them alone. But at least respect people as best you can, and particularly go out of your way to be kind and to respect people when they’re treating you badly, or when they are obviously acting in an antisocial way. That means putting away your normal ego-reaction and coming from the love of the Infinite Self. -Stuart Wilde
Remaining in this perspective is not easy. I cannot say that I always do this or feel this, but the more that we are aware of how others are just evolving like us, the more compassion we can feel. The more that we can be kind, offer love and beauty to those around us. They may not be able to receive the kindness that you put out there right now, however it is the best thing to do. In these moments if we can remember to be kind, we can know that we are radiating love out into the universe. By choosing to be kind to someone that is showing you negative energy, you are changing little sparks of their path and yours. Even if they don’t accept the kindness, you can know that you did your best. You are human, you are evolving and growing too.
You can be assured that if you’re infinite, if you’re eternal, you’ll have patience. If you have patience, you can be magnanimous and know that things will get sorted out in the end and that people will come to a sense of sacredness gradually. -Stuart Wilde
My prayer and my intention for you today is that you find kindness in your heart toward yourself and towards anyone with whom you have had a difficult time in your life. Wish them love and respect and it will change your reality and view of the world.
How can you respect all living things and your home today?
I am tagging my fellow writers here who are following along on this journey so that I may share this path with them: Rasheed Hooda, Aurora Eliam, CMP, Art Bram, Michele Thill, Henery X (long), Charlotte Zobeir Ali, Gurpreet Dhariwal, Dr John Rose, Taha Abbas, Suntonu Bhadra, Chowa Sekai, KeepingItRealWithAnnick, Amy Marley, Sumera Rizwan, Terry Mansfield and many more! Thank you Illumination Family!
Trista Signe Ainsworth is a professional organizer with Joyful Minimalism. She helps working women clear the clutter, overwhelm, and shame from their homes and lives so that they can truly live in joy.
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