Do you love bopping down the street with inspiring music on? Lots of us do. That’s why headphones are so pretty nowadays.
So what happens when you’re in the midst of a killer song, and someone stops you to ask you a question? Can’t they see you’re listening to something?
You could be annoyed, having to turn off the tunes, to cater to the moving mouth facing you on the street.
Perhaps they were seeking directions, or—even more regretful in retrospect—they wanted to pay you a compliment.
But the message delivered to you is not the focus of this discussion. What I want to talk about here is how you felt about being interrupted in the midst of doing something else.
In addition to annoyance, you could have felt fear. After all you don’t know this person, or their intentions. Whatever that feeling is, your initial reaction reflects your current belief about about oneness.
Here on Earth, we are all exploring the theme of separateness through the use of physical bodies. Therefore, we hold some sort of belief about what the “others” out there mean to us. Are they good? Annoying? Unpredictable? Inherently bad? Hopeless sheep? Exciting?
Your view of the nature of “others” shapes the “others” that you meet.
Through encounters such as these, you get to decide who you are. That’s why there are other people in your world at all.
Every.single.person.that.you.meet.is.a.reflection.of.you.
Not just some of the time. Not just intimate relationships, or family. Every single person, no matter how short the interaction, is a reflection of you in some way.
Now let’s add a layer:
What if the person who stopped you on the street was wearing tattered clothes? Or if she were a hot woman in a tight dress? Or an elderly person appearing anxious? Or a crying child?
Who are you in each of those situations?
Through introspective contemplation, you can uncover beliefs that might benefit from redesign. By visualizing yourself in each of the scenarios above—and focusing on how you felt during the encounter–you can then discover the unconscious programs that have been governing your behavior.
However you acted, there is a part of you that feels the same way about yourself. Since all people are reflections of you, this person offers you the opportunity to locate that area of blocked energy. To clear it out. And to choose a better-serving belief from now on.
It’s a remembrance, that every version of us is valid—even the one that catches you by surprise.
This is how we move from separation to integration.
