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Saturday, August 27, 2011

BEING HUMAN

         We are as different as our fingerprints. It seems as if there should be one path of rightness, but the truth is that there are many. There are multiple solutions to the same problem, multiple visions of the same future, multiple approaches to life, to love, to health, to fitness, to the achievement of dreams, and the experience of life's sadness, and each of them is rich with our personal creativity. We see things one way, our way, and we are blind to other perspectives. We need interaction with each other to expand our view.
     I work with people everyday, and it delights me to see the different ways that we are strong and weak and flexible and tight, to explore the magical properties of movement and range of motion and grace. And it opens my heart to hear of everyone's challenges and joys and fears and hopes: spouses, children, parents, sickness, body image, food compulsions, bad habits, good habits, insecurities, happiness, unexpected flexibility, and the evolution of self acceptance.
     We are each on an individual journey, but we travel together down the human path. It takes the company of another to point things out to us that we cannot see. It's a give and take process, a sharing adventure. It's unhealthy and uncomfortable to live in isolation. Solitude is one thing, but the complete avoidance of human interaction robs us of the richness of living fully. We need each other. We need each other for comfort and understanding and lessons and solutions, for insight and inspiration, for encouragement and loving kindness. We need each other for conversation, to test our limits and set boundaries, to realize how we are separate and how we are forever the same.
     This human walk is fascinating because of the unique perspective we each bring to it. It is endlessly creative and ever new. If we feel dull, we can strike up a conversation with someone we don't know, or don't know well. Asking questions and listening to the life adventures of another takes us out of our own small world and opens us to greater horizons. Let's reach out today. Let's enrich our lives with fresh perspective.

I am a grateful member of the human race. I give and take. I share my perspective and am open to the perspective of others. I grow and learn and experience joy from interacting with others.