Life as a Teaching

Ram Dass once said, “I'm explicitly making my life a teaching by expressing the lessons I've learned so it becomes a map for other people. Everybody's life can be like that if they choose to make it so, choosing to reflect on what they've been through and share it with others.”
I think that’s what I’m trying to do with these writings. 
I’m trying to make sense of the struggles, the lessons and the good stuff. Risking being vulnerable. 
Saying the words, me too can be incredibly healing for us to hear when we’re hurting or feeling lost or stuck. 
They obviously have taken on a different meaning after the movement around Hollywood predators. But, when someone shares that they have felt that way before or are feeling it now. It’s an incredibly powerful connector. I think that’s why new moms gravitate to each other. I think that’s why widows find each other right after the hospital or the funeral home. I think people that have been through something can reach out in a way that somebody that hasn’t gone through wouldn’t understand or have the words for.
There is a deepening of our human connection with a shared experience, even if it’s just mildly similar.
We have the ability to share our stories. 
To reveal the lessons we gleaned from a tough time. No one goes too long in this life without needing help in some way or another. 
We are built for community. 
Our lives can be of service just by being open and willing to reach out.
After all Maya Angelou told us, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”
Isn’t that really what advice ends up being? 
Somebody’s been through something, they see somebody going through something similar and they tell them about it. 
I think sometimes we are too afraid that what we say won't matter. 
Or too afraid to be that vulnerable.
But, what if the opposite happens? 
What if being vulnerable is a superpower? 
What if making your life a teaching was just how you did life? 
That you stayed open to share your stories, so somebody else wouldn’t feel so lost trying to find their way. 
There’s always going to be somebody way better off than you and more successful than you. But, there’s also going to be people that will look at where you are as a goal. And what you have will seem unattainable to them.
Maybe that’s why we have two hands. One that we can stretch out to get lifted up and one we can use to turn around and lift somebody else that is behind us. 
Community, we are all in it. We are all here together.
We don’t breathe different air or see a different sky.
Rumi said,”Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”
I really like that. 
My cane as a shepherd staff. My life as a map.
Let’s go somewhere beautiful, together.