When we see another (or even get to know another), we get glimpses of their life, glimpses of their journey.

I feel that getting to know others in person, or through writing or reading others blogs, I still only know as much as I know from my perceptions and judgements and what they choose share. Even the people who I think I know intimately, like my husband or my mother, or people I have “known” for years, I really don’t know at all.

The only one we can really get to know in life is our own self. Our mind and our heart is the only one we can know. Even when we read other peoples writings or have conversations with them, it is our own mind that we have the opportunity to figure out, our own self that is being reflected back to us. The things that we judge others negatively for are usually what we really do not want to admit about ourselves or a character trait or attitude that we wish we never had. In the same way, the things that we love about others are usually the things that we share in common with them, or admire and feel inspired by and want to develop in ourselves.

I believe that we can learn a lot from each other. I believe that everyone we meet mirrors an aspect of ourselves back to us in some way to teach us something about ourselves, whether it is something that we should change or work on, something that we want to develop in ourselves, or something that maybe we should leave behind and grow from. Everyone’s life shares some similarities and some differences and different aspects of a persons character either attract us or repel us.

I’ve been meeting so many strong and confident women for the past year and I really see how this is because I really want and need to develop that confidence in myself. There may be other things that these women do, or ways that they live their lives, that I do not feel jive with me or align with my truth and values, but I believe that it is like that with all people that we meet. Each and every person in our life is here to teach us something. It is whether or not we are paying attention to the lessons that our relationships bring us that determines whether or not we are surrounded by more positive and inspiring people or more negative ones. What we are putting out there in our thoughts and actions will always come back to us in some form.

Ultimately, we need to learn to love each other despite our differences and learn to overcome our lower ego and its judgements. If we could see that every person is really not that different at their core, even if we live our lives differently and have different values and beliefs, then we could really know what love is.

I am grateful for each and every person who I have met in my life and who is and has been a part of my journey.

Everything happens for a reason and each and everybody shapes our life in some way. ❤

Namaste!