Nox Amicus

Happy New Year – and welcome to the first new moon of 2019. I started this process two years ago this month; and I like the fact that I can go back and see where I was, what I was facing, and examine how I chose to deal with it. Thanks to those of you who choose to come along for my introspective journey every month!

Last month was about Honor. Honoring commitments, honoring memories, honoring sacrifice, and honoring talents. When I was thinking about what this cycle might hold, it felt like Honor needed some sort of companion. As if to say that Honor is the theory – but I needed to understand the practice. So this cycle will focus on Respect.

A week or so ago, a somewhat obvious lesson presented itself. The details aren’t relevant – but the learning was that we all have different paths, and as similar or compatible as they might seem to be at times, no two paths are identical – and that’s what makes us all unique individuals. It’s like two musicians might play the same instrument in the same song – but they will sound totally different because of who they are and how they play. We don’t all play the same way, and it’s unfair to expect that someone might.

But that expectation is also unfair to ourselves. How much time and energy have we spent waiting, hoping, encouraging – someone to see the benefit of the path we laid out before them? We know it’s right – why can’t they see it? Because they are not us. They do not have our experiences, our history, or our perspective. This doesn’t make them wrong, it just makes them not us.

So this cycle I’ll continue the work of being more respectful of the paths other people choose to walk, particularly when it comes to my interactions with them. I will also respect my self, my path, and my energy by not investing more than is healthy. My history has caused me to stay present ‘just in case’ – but this has historically carried a very high price. It’s time to respect my resources and conserve them for where they are actually needed or can bring the best result.