“I know what you’re going through.” Have you ever said that to someone who is going through a crisis in their life? I have, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The truth is that you are the only one who has ever had your experience, because you are the only you and that makes you the only one who experiences things the way that you do. No one knows how you feel.
Someone once told me that people don’t need to identify with my experience; they just need to relate to it. It was a long time before I understood what that meant. After my sister died, I never again told anyone that I knew what they were going through. Instead, I learned how to be supportive and compassionate, and allow my friends to have their own experience and find their way through it. I stood by them if and when they needed me, until they found their way out of the dark.
Acceptance is very powerful. Acceptance means we have to allow people to be who they are, and not judge them based on our own experiences. When we accept and acknowledge someone in a way that honors their experience, we allow them to grow from that experience in their own way, and in their own time.
All healing happens in the heart. Acceptance of others, and of ourselves, as the perfect beings we were created to be, lets us uncover clues to our own needs, and gives us permission to be who we are. It takes courage to step away and let someone have their own experience when a traumatic event turns their life upside down. Sometimes, people just want you to be there, not to do anything, just be present. Acceptance opens the door to unconditional love, and our hearts are never the same.
It’s Never Too Late to Be Great! ®
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