photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@grakozy
Dear Friends,
I believe deeply in the sacredness of gathering, of bringing people together to connect, to share life, and to touch something deeper. This is the power of Circle: a space where we sit together, listen with open hearts, and hold one another’s stories without judgment, fixing, saving, or advising.
At a recent Circle, one of our dear members spoke about reframing reframing. She shared that when we widen the story and the lens we look through, our experiences become easier to hold. The circumstances don’t necessarily change; our relationship to them does.
Her words stay with me. Being in community with beautiful souls always shifts something in me, and this nugget of wisdom gave language to something I’ve been contemplating: What is the bigger story in my life, in your life, and in our lives together? And what perspective am I choosing to see it through?
I’m beginning to see that part of the answer lives in how I choose to look.
What if widening my perspective also means noticing the negativity bias my brain works so hard to keep front and center? It’s trying to keep me safe, and I’m grateful for that. And… I get to choose differently. In spite of what may appear otherwise, I can choose to see everyone and everything as beautiful, loving, lovable, and lovely. I can choose to view this life, starting with myself, from a soul perspective, while embracing the full, and often messy, human experience. I can also choose to accept all the love and blessings the Universe has for me, including the invitations to grow, learn, and lean into love.
This is a practice, and I’m still in it.
I invite you to wonder alongside me…
Where in your life might a wider lens make your story easier to hold?
What shifts when you turn toward yourself with the same tenderness you offer others?
What I know to be true from my own experience: when I meet myself with love and compassion, I am better able to meet others with love and compassion.
Will you join me?
Looking through a wider lens, with love and care,
Jennifer
What I’m Tuning Into
Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippett | Robin Wall Kimmerer and Azita Ardakani Walton | To Bring Life Into a Trembling World - A conversation about seeing the world as alive and in relationship, a lovely companion to this month’s theme of widening our perspective.
