LET THERE BE SPACES IN YOUR TOGETHERNESS

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls” – Kahlil Gibran

Autumn is the essential space between your need to be and your need to be connected. It is that season when you come to know the depletion of self as a fact of your existence.

We all experience exhaustion. This is especially true of us who spend much of our time and energy preoccupied with being a source of help to those who need inspiration and assistance in this life. I spend an inordinate amount of time with caregivers in the medical field. Our work gives us opportunities to be voices for the voiceless… helpers of those who as a result of their physical and intellectual disabilities are unable to help themselves. This can be draining. Long shifts of caring take energy that none of us can sustain indefinitely. No matter what our occupations are, the constant giving of ourselves and our gifts and abilities will take a toll on us physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually.

Among the signs that we need to pause for meaningful reflection and personal repair, are the many manifestations of the negative impact that tired/broken bodies, dulled spirits, and unclear perspectives have on our various relationships. Our internal states are reflected in the quality of the various relationships that define us and our roles in the world. Unhealthy persons have unhealthy relationships. Broken people express their brokenness in terms of dysfunctional behaviors that have consequences outside of their own skins.

Existing in a state of disrepair can have devastatingly disastrous consequences for everyone and everything around us. We owe it to ourselves and those we care for and about to make sure that we are doing all that we can to take care of ourselves. Our partners, our children, our homes, our communities, our co-workers – all require the very best of who we can be to always be present. Always. Eventually we must acknowledge that despite the benefits of our presence and purpose; in reality the world and everyone and everything in it will in fact go on without us. Wisdom dictates that we embrace that season of retreat from that pressing sense of duty to everything and everyone in our world.

We are but trees in the forest of being. We provide shade and sustenance; but there comes a time – a season – when for our own sakes we must pause from those purposes that give our lives meaning and get the rest and rehabilitation we need for our own survival. Autumn comes to remind us of our need to do what is necessary to recover our vitality… the sap of our lives without which we are not able to maintain our connection to our own internality, to each other, and to the universe.

The wisdom of the poet comes across with a profound eloquence in this season. Let us pause and reflect on his advice; and let us allow these words to speak to us in the context of our own lives and needs.

Yes? … Yes.

One Love!

R. A. G.
Roy Alexander Graham
President/CEO, FIGTREE ENTERPRISES, INC.
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