SEEKING THE GLOW BEHIND THE WRECKAGE

AUTHOR-TURNED-PSYCHOLOGICAL-FISHERMAN’S NOTE: I haven’t been wading into my Facebook Memories for awhile, just because I’ve been so busily moving forward, from my place in the perpetual Now.

But this morning, something induced me to click on the link. And in the course of skimming over relics from the past, past, and past, I stumbled upon this little drunken late-night insight that seemed worth reeling in: a little minnow captured nine years ago that still feels lively, at the heart of my concerns.

I feel that the heart of the art of this life lies in finding the best you have to offer this life, and then dedicating yourself to it as best you can.

Self-loathing comes easily to most of us. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world to see our hideous flaws, and weigh them against the lighter-than-air potential worthiness we might hope to imagine we contain, and watch the scale helplessly flop to the unworthy side.

And from there, it comes equally easy to ruthlessly judge each other by our own failed standards. It’s a slope that goes down and down and down.

So my personal trick and antidote is this: to focus my gaze on the finest attributes of everybody I meet. To see their souls, at their openest and finest, and try to connect with them there. Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s hard. But believe me, it’s there, in every single one of us.

And if you see it -- and they feel you seeing it -- you can actually connect with that special part of them.

Doesn’t mean you ignore the broken damage, the flaws both obvious and hidden. Doesn’t mean you be a sucker who falls for everyone’s shit. Many many people have personally, ruthlessly distanced themselves so far from their finest souls that they barely recognize them in themselves.

But if YOU can see it, YOU CAN HELP THEM SEE IT, TOO. And if you can meet on that level -- your best and theirs, connecting -- that’s the deepest seeing there is.

These are the eyes of wisdom, insofar as I can tell. These are the eyes you want for everyone.And it starts with you.

SEE YOU THERE, MY FRIEND!!!