| 'I hate the world that I think hates me'
That is the first line of a song that I listened to during my first year in college, day after day after day...
I have been in dark places in my life, trying to make sense of my life, trying to understand what drove people to do what they do.
I could not understand why so many people were setting up these facades of success and happiness, while I knew they were deeply unhappy inside.
It made me seek the company of the loners, the outsiders, the so-called losers, at least they were real in what they experienced.
And while I didn't fit in with the 'normal' people, I didn't fit in with the outsiders neither, since many of them didn't choose to get out of their situation.
So many, many times, I felt very lonely, writing and reading were a big consolation. Reading books, novels or non-fiction, was always an exercise in expansion, seeing the world through the eyes of the writer and it expanded my view on life.
It made me see my situation from another perspective, a broader perspective, and when I look back now, I can tell you that every single challenge taught me something valuable and changed me.
It made my life so rich and colorful, and still does.
Am I writing you now from a place that I know it all, that I have the secret to a happy life? Not at all.
Life is an adventure every single day, a place of learning, and when I work with people, first of all, I listen, not only to their words, but to the feelings and the energy behind the words.
Guiding other people to real change is not wanting to change them but acknowledging the situation they're in, creating a safe atmosphere for change, an atmosphere of compassion and kindness.
Does this mean it is all soft and woo-woo? Not at all, when necessary, I tell people what they don't want to hear, pointing out how they create some harmful situations and sometimes that is hard because with every change, every birth into the new comes along awkwardness and some pain.
But once you reach another level of awareness, once you expand your consciousness, there is no way back, you are no longer a victim in your life, you learn another way to look at certain situations and to deal with them, you become very powerful and this experience is priceless...
I wanted to share this with you today to let you know that you are not alone in this adventure called life, we are all in this together, and are here to support each other...
Sending you love, Barbara.
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