ENABLING

An old friend who writes oh so beautifully turned in an email with his latest blog.

It is a big deal to my world, because he writes like a god. And for times when I've felt so utterly dried out of words, his entries are my solace. How pathos when it is raw and honest is such a release.

Here's a short excerpt from his poem, Linger:

Where have you been, where are you
now, what have you taken with you,
who have you brought along for the ride,
how have you learned; to process pain,
to dance in your joy, to forgive yourself
before others, to accept another
by your own failures, to be here, to be
in the past at the same time, swung
into the now with your laughter intact,
bare feet on the sands..

Do you see it, do you see the future
springing from your past angling into
this instant swinging fast, do you swing
back to a second reading of a memory,
a book, and learn, if only to see clearer still,
or even more dimly, where you stumbled,
where you gained, where you lost someone,
where a life touched you and changed you
without even meaning to, not even trying.

Are you me, am I you, are we running
away from each other, are you still
what you have always been, are you vying
for something more, or just holding on
to what you already have, is love only true
when you see what I see, only real
when I hear what you hear, does together
only truly matter when I am holding you,
or when you are far away; are we only safe
when we are silent?

It dawns on me that the reason I feel so affected by his works is because his words enable me to draw out my own, to forget censures, let go of fears of criticism, to be just who I am, and it gives me the push to write freely in my quiet moments.

In life, we are lucky if we get to connect with people who will enable us to move forward, to grow. Those who see in us our true potentials and touch our lives long enough to help us see those gifts ourselves. To find them unexpectedly is a gift. Something people search for their whole lives.

I've been blessed to have found a handful. And so I feel that I am living an enabled life at the moment. Slowly slowly reaching signposts to my own personal set points. And in return, I only wish that I can be an enabler to a few souls too, to be of help to those who can use what I can extend.

A dear friend and I were talking about marriage and being alone earlier today. We agreed that married or not, we are essentially alone. Sometimes having a partner cloaks this truth, creating a sense of entitlement to having someone to ask assistance from. We say it's a false sense of security. That life is not about finding a partner, or trying to make a life together work. It's about making your own life work, finding your dreams, irrespective of whether you're with someone or not.