true friends Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Bright and Shining Moments (Wm Penn Inn) – Photo: L. Weikel

Peeps

There are just some people in the world whom you consider your ‘peeps’ and there are others you don’t. It doesn’t really mean anything, other than you’ve found your tribe.

There are, if you’re lucky, a lot of people you feel close enough to who can always (or could) cushion your fall. But there are the precious few who are always there. Just…always. No matter how many blood relatives you or they have. No matter how many months have gone by without an opportunity to sit down and have a really good, long chat. Without them having any idea what you may have been encountering in your life (and concomitantly, you having no idea what they’ve been encountering in theirs, either)…you just pick up.

Precious

Those are the precious ones.

Of course, I’m not dissing the others. Not by any means. It’s just that the ones I’m describing are in a category all their own. And the cool thing is, they can come from other subsets: meaning, they can actually be members of their own alpha pack, and yet be so genuine and so real that their energies transcend the other connections to forge meaningful bonds of their own. They can even be members of your bloodline – which is, in my estimation, a most extraordinary home run or stroke of luck on everyone’s part.

I’m probably blathering, and you are mostly wondering what in the world I’m talking about, because – key question weighing most heavily on all our minds is (if we’re honest) – what does this have to do with kiffels?

And did I discover the secret recipe for the nut confection that goes into the aforementioned kiffels?!

I think I may have hit pay dirt in that arena, but I have to wait until tomorrow to test out my theory In the meantime, and while this may indeed be a precious discovery, it is the celebration of friendship that I wanted to highlight.

But you know what? I’m reaching that point of sleepy appreciation that makes words sometimes sound like puffy clouds instead of the stalwart descriptors of some of the most important aspects of our lives.

Burdens

For whatever reason, as I sit here in the semi darkness, I’m realizing more acutely in the moment how friends are truly ‘sharers of burdens.’ That’s a rather cumbersome title, but it’s true. A true friend does really and truly share our burdens and – not to be cliché but, darn, it does sound it – double our joys.

Yes, I’m waxing rhapsodic over friendship this evening. It’s because in the last several hours, days, weeks, and months, I’ve found myself experiencing such profound levels of love and friendship that those relationships demand recognition. They demand to be honored. And they demand to be appreciated for the unique lessons, joys, realizations, and astonishing insights they can bring us – if we just pay attention and listen.

I am being vague – and I both mean to be and wish I weren’t.

The truth is, I need to go to bed. I need to dream into being the recipe for nut filling in kiffels. And if I do, perhaps I’ll share them with those true friends I mentioned above. Then again, I may be a total undisciplined kiffel hoarder.

No promises. I must sleep. That said…let this be a short but sincere homage to true friendship. I’m so grateful to experience it! And I wish it for each and every one of us. Because that’s what life is all about: Relationships. Love. Friendships. Kiffels.

And perhaps most important of all: a sense of humor.

(T-699)

Shedding Can Be Tough – Photo: L. Weikel

Shedding and Looking Up

Sometimes we need to let go of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and judgments that we’ve held for longer than we can remember. And we need to let go of them because they’re standing in our way to a greater understanding of who we are and why we’re here.

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of these things because we’ve grown fond of them. They feel like a second skin. They’re comfortable and familiar and they help us define our world – at least, they help us define what even counts as our world. So if we were to let go of them, we might feel lost. Or uncomfortable. Or a little fearful of the unknown.

Photo: L. Weikel

Sometimes, on the other hand, it’s hard to let go of these things because we aren’t even aware that we hold them, carry them around, or allow them to influence our lives every day. We honestly do not realize the fundamental beliefs, judgments, opinions, and attitudes that are the filter through which we experience our lives.

Taking the Time and Doing the Work to Discover What Needs to Go

How can we let something go that we’re not even aware we hold?

By doing the work.

By opening ourselves up to the possibility that we might not even be aware of our own self-sabotage – be it advertent or inadvertent. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter in the least whether we’re sabotaging ourselves purposefully or not. Or even knowingly or not. Blockage and self-sabotage impede. Period.

That’s why it’s a gift to have other people whom we trust implicitly walking beside us. We may all be on the similar paths, more or less, but that doesn’t mean our footsteps mirror each other’s.

Finding – and Being – Those We Trust Implicitly

Not in the least. But it does mean we something to have people whose perspective we trust close enough to call us out and say, “Hey! Do you see what you are affirming to the Universe every time you say such a thing?” or “You’ve been telling yourself that same story all the time ever since we met five years ago.”

Often this can lead to a gasp and an internal astonished realization of the belief albatross we’ve been slogging through the mud with, allowing it to weigh us down and slow our progress until we suddenly find ourselves stuck. “Oops. Wow. I did not see that.”

So to have people we trust nearby to call us on our stuff, lovingly but honestly, is a great gift.

True Friends Being There For Each Other

I witnessed some amazing stuff unfold today.

I watched dear friends shed old ways of thinking and being, beliefs and judgments that used to cause heartache and mean self-talk.

And tomorrow?

Tomorrow I’m going to witness them looking up. Looking outward; looking at themselves with profound love and respect, and an eager anticipation of what is coming ‘next.’

Looking up – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-924)