We have no idea how we impact people through all aspects of who we are. By how we carry ourselves, our words, our energetics, our thoughts, and our intentions.
I once scribbled my name and phone number on a scrap of paper and handed it to a girl struggling in the throes of her addiction, sitting in the back of the room of an AA meeting. Years later she came up to me and told me it saved her life.
How? She would pull out the paper in fits of despair, dial my number and hang up. “Not today,” she’d tell herself, but she knew I was there. She’d remember how I had looked her in the eyes with compassion and told her it would all be alright, to call anytime - that’s what we do in those rooms of recovery.
It was enough to carry her on the River of Denial until she was ready. And somewhere inside her, she knew that day would come. And it did. And I ended up sponsoring her and taking her through the 12 Steps in the program. My deepest honor.
How could I have known? We don’t. We just keep offering without attachment and expectation. We offer with an open heart while tending to ourselves, making sure we have what is needed to be able to give to another when the time comes, not from lack, but from overflow.
I’m sure you have also saved days, and even lives. Through a smile, a recognition, your state, and through thoughtful action.
Take a breath. Feel into all that you are, and all the journeying you’ve done. Knowing to your core that you have both been rescued and loved when you couldn’t love yourself, and you’ve turned around and been that for another. We take turns in the carrying.
What an incredible ride. How we hold each other through this human experience of connection and point each other back to our own power within.
