Appreciating our Inner Circles

After reading my last post and not seeing me anywhere else on line much over the last couple of days, my mom sent me a text, “Are you ok?” I had to give a little laugh at the time, half heartedly expecting SOME type of response from her; I mean it was a bit of a DARK piece! (It wasn’t coming from some place in my current life; it was simply something inside that needed to come out) After attempting a texting conversation, I gave up and called her.


We first talked, of course, about what I had written, and its relevance. We continued with our writing, and how we love getting comments on our blogs. She again encouraged me to get out there more, be sure to leave my own comments on others blogs. The conversation then turned to Facebook, and the commenting or lack thereof that occurs there; we are basically Cyber Stalkers!! We silently navigate our way through this On-Line world, occasionally leaving our mark. We step into the world of others, our “friends”, our “associates” or FILL IN THE BLANK, but we don’t actually appreciate our connections.

My mom is, of course, the one who WOULD, after having the slightest question in her mind, take action and make contact with me after reading a “disturbing” blog post. But, it is a funny thing. When it comes to others that we claim to care about, we don’t take the actual time required to care. Their personal topic/circumstance could be absolutely wonderful, it could be a little on the lonely side or even have an air of pain, and yet we often just breeze on by. Some type of “emotion” or thought comes up for us in response to what we have read. But we don’t bother to share that. We don’t share our excitement or concern, or even offer the slightest hint of emotion, reflection or empathy. We don’t allow ourselves the opportunity to relate with those that we actually cared enough to make contact with in the beginning!

Perhaps, like me, you questioned responding to that “Friend Request”. Maybe you wanted to send one out, but you hesitated. But in the end, we made a conscious decision to do so or not. Thereby, sending out to the universe a message. That entire sequence happened for SOME REASON. We likely entered into a “relationship”. Be it friendship, teacher, student etc. There is something there for us. Why then is it that we ignore what comes back to us?

Although it is often easy to become distracted, I try to remember that every person we encounter, each individual that comes into our lives is there for a reason. I believe that every person we come across is there for us to learn from or that we have something to share with them. I suppose that is why this conversation with mom really hit something inside of me. I am guilty, just like so many others, of neglecting the relationships in our lives.

I, we all, make a conscious choice each and every day. We CHOOSE who it is that we are going to allow in our lives. We handpick who gets to stay in our “Inner Circle”. It therefore is entirely up to us what we get out of that relationship.

We can fully appreciate the people we let remain in our lives, or we can ignore them and allow the union to wilt: lose out on the opportunity to experience the goodness (lessons, love, etc.), allow them to leave our world without ever fully being acknowledged.

I hope to be a little more conscious of these things the next time I am walking through the pages of my friends lives.