Friendship Lab

 

“Don’t let people’s scars distract you from their smiles.”
— John Maurer

 

A few of my friends who have been roommates for awhile came to me separately for advice on how to deal with each other. Their friendship appeared to be the kind that we humans choose unconsciously because we need to have a funhouse mirror of certain combinations of our qualities held up to us to see and deal with. This in my experience happens when our introspective nature’s become blocked. The things that draw us into these relationships tends to be the qualities that we share that we enjoy. Problems arise most often, it seems when qualities we dislike or don’t fully understand about ourselves come into play. I could see that this most likely was the case with my friends but could only point out the edges to them. Neither wanted to realize the gifts they were giving each other and themselves by illuminating how they dealt or didn’t with their shadow selves. Things escalated to the point where they forgot why they had become friends in the first place. No doubt they will each draw into their lives people with similar qualities that they will have to deal with until they get the lesson. Life’s funny that way.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Landscape of Intertwined Rainbow StarfishLandscape of Intertwined Rainbow Starfish by G A Rosenberg

 

Phoenix Dark RisingPhoenix’s Dark Rising by G A Rosenberg

 

Facing It

 

“Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.”
― Joseph Conrad

 

Facing my own ignorance rather than arguing for it.
Facing my own lack of discipline rather than justifying it.
Facing my odd turns of thoughts and accepting them
Facing the things I don’t want to face.
Facing the injustices in front of me rather than decrying those in the world.
Facing my own inaction.
Facing my own joy in hopeless situations
Facing my partner with honesty and an open heart.
Facing my son through good and bad
Facing the sunset.
Facing the young children at play.
Facing the random acts of kindness performed by strangers.
Facing the joy in an old woman’s face watching her grandchildren
Facing lovers walking arm in arm
Facing the animals at play
Facing that their are good things in this world.
Sometimes it is as difficult to face the good as it is the bad. The difference between the two is not a constant but a variable and where the line falls can vary according to both the perceiver and the context in which they are perceived.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Within the PatternWithin the Pattern by G A Rosenberg

 

EncroachmentEncroachment by G A Rosenberg