I’m about to turn 60, and I believe that I am now truly qualified to speak on the years I’ve spent on this earth. We are all here for a reason, believe it or not, it’s always important. Human beings have developed walls and barriers to keep each other out, be it physical walls or emotional walls. They work the same. In my years of wanderings I’ve often heard the term “it’s not your job to…” fill in the blanks. Usually, it’s regarding one person attempting to help, give council, advice, support, comfort. Basically, the person has decided that either it’s a burden to lean on the other, it’s embarrassing, it makes them look weak or vulnerable, and they will deal with it on their own.

What I’ve learnt: Our bodies are akin to shopping bags. What do you use to take home the sustenance for your body when you go to the supermarket? A bag. You need that bag to get the good stuff home but the bag itself doesn’t matter beyond that. Who cares what color it is, if it’s a plain brown paper bag or a brightly colored plastic bag. What matters is that it’s strong enough to get the important stuff home, it would be even better if you get to use it over and over again. Inevitably, regardless of its strength, it will become worn, a handle might break and we have to discard it for another one. Our bodies are the vessels that carry the important stuff through life, and we hope and pray that it remains strong enough to give us a good long life.

What’s the important stuff? My firm belief is that the soul is the important stuff. Our internal organs keep that “bag” as healthy as they can but what is the ” bag” carrying around. Yes, it’s you, it’s me, but what are we beyond that? I am a soul. I know that. The truly important fact is that the you, the soul is made up of all the emotions, the passions, the universal love for each other. The soul is the memory, the connecting thread, it’s the reason we are here on this earth. How bland to think that we were all born to simply eat food, work, have sex and wither away to dust! The soul is here to flourish and connect, creating love large enough to outshine the sun! When someone says “it’s not your job to…” they are blocking the sun. When someone builds that wall and becomes selfish in sharing their soul, they have condemned their soul to prison, to loneliness and selfishness. Denying the sharing of emotions in terms of giving or receiving is NOT your job, not your purpose.

Our jobs differ: We are here to learn and help others. This might not be in the same manner for all. That well of emotions I mentioned, spills into hundreds of tributaries. Patience, understanding, kindness, love, laughter, sadness, depression, loss, hope, positivity, negativity, loneliness, hurt, disappointment, acceptance, tenderness, hatred, jealousy, fear. The list goes on. Have you found yourself being drawn to or noticing one particular type of person or situation that you have to deal with or want to deal with? It might be a part of the reason you are here. You somehow understand why someone behaves the way they do, and are able to connect with them. Don’t ignore it. Children listen to you, are drawn to you, that’s the soul they see. We can all feel and see the others soul (the you). It’s not the body that we are feeling and seeing when we connect to people (beyond sex and lust). We sometimes say “Oh we just hit it off, or “We were immediately drawn to each other”, just something about the person connected with you.

Make it count: We need to be aware of who we really are, what we need, or what we have to offer. We all need something, and if a friend or loved one offers it, don’t shut out the sun. Open your soul to the sharing, we need it like we need the food we use to stay alive. Making the effort to accept and to share isn’t always easy, but with practice it gets more comfortable for those who have been used to shutting it all out while keeping the barrier secure. Walls, no matter how or where they are built are not the answer. There was a massacre yesterday (8/3/2019) in El Paso. We can’t protect ourselves with walls. Sometimes the darkness creeps around inside and does more harm than what we are afraid of from the outside.

Life is short. We hear it all the time, now it seems to be potentially shorter with everything going on. What’s the point of being here if we aren’t living the potential of the emotional/passionate beings that we are? Our greatest enemies are ourselves. It’s my job to share this with you and I hope it matters enough, that you give it some thought.

Love.