Inspire-ME Monday #4: Relationships

"Opening to the world begins to benefit ourselves and others simultaneously. The more we relate with others, the more quickly we discover where we’re blocked. Seeing this is helpful, but it’s also painful. Sometimes we use it as ammunition against ourselves: we aren’t kind, we aren’t honest, we aren’t brave, and we might as well give up right now. But when we apply the instruction to be soft and nonjudgmental to whatever we see at this very moment, the embarrassing reflection in the mirror becomes our friend. We soften further and lighten up more, because we know it’s the only way we can continue to work with others and be of any benefit in the world. This is the beginning of growing up." --Pema Chodron

"Fucked up people will try to tell you otherwise, but boundaries have nothing to do with whether you love someone or not. They are not judgments, punishments, or betrayals. They are a purely peaceable thing: the basic principles you identify for yourself that define the behaviors that you will tolerate from others, as well as the responses you will have to those behaviors. Boundaries teach people how to treat you, and they teach you how to respect yourself." --Cheryl Strayed, from her book, "Tiny Beautiful Things"

“...[W]hen you live in close proximity with lots of other people, you are going to bump into parts of them that you don't like (and vice versa). We have group discussions, and things get very heated. Sparks fly. We disappoint each other. Some people do more work that others. We want different things, but we are in a community and so we have to reach some kind of consensus. Being intimate with other human beings is HARD WORK." --Satya Robyn, writer, painter, Buddhist Priest, from her book "Just As You Are: Buddhism for Foolish Beings"

"People are NOT going to do what you want them to do; they are going to do what THEY want to do. You might as well do what YOU want to do too." --The Universe to me while on vacation in Maui, feeling disillusioned by how my husband and kids were choosing to spend their time

"We have to become more sovereign....We've got to meet our own needs. Be our own mother. Be our own father. Be our own best friend.....The more we can really come into relying on our vertical...our spirit connection for our strength, our security, our stability, our warmth, our nurturing our love, the better off we're going to be....We don't need relationships anymore. I don't need you. I've got Spirit. I've got self-love. I'm connected to the infinite flow of the Universe. And the only reason I'm here in this relationship is because I want to be....I receive from all directions." --Kaypacha from one of his Pele Reports