A Teaching:

How can you connect with another person when you cannot connect with yourself?

Thich Nhat Hanh

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A Truth:

When I look back on my relationships (including my most intimate ones) I can see a veil between me and others. I allowed some of me to come through, but not all of me. From adolescence on there was a piece of me missing in my relationships — a connection not quite complete.

As a result, I had very few deep, meaningful relationships.

The kind of relationship where you drop your roles (daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother) and connect with another on a soul level. Where you can’t be anything other than authentic. Where pure love flows without effort or fear from one being to another.

The only time I truly experienced such a connection was when my children were born. It happened automatically — without thought.

Then, as my kids grew older and came into their own personalities, the veil appeared with them too.

Not until I began to awaken and connect with my inner Self has the veil lifted. Waking up to who I really am has allowed me to experience the deep and meaningful connections that we’re all meant to have.

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A Take-away:

If you want everlasting, deep, and meaningful relationships in your life, begin by developing a relationship with yourself. Beyond your name and the body you’re borrowing for a while, is your immortal Self — who you really are.

• Ask “Who am I?”, as the Indian Hindu sage, Sri Ramana Maharshi suggests.

• Be the watcher of your thoughts and realize you are not your thoughts.

• Find practices to connect with your inner Self here.

• Read spiritual teachings like, Thich Naht Hanh’s, Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teachings .

You can wake-up whenever you want. . .

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