I'm feeling a little under the weather at the moment. There will probably be a number of fuzzy days like this in the near future, but I get the feeling that this is not my normal state. If I reflect on who I was several years ago, I think that my normal state has been slowly, slowly moving towards the kind of foundation I described in "Starting from a small life": self-care and close relationships. That's there, most days, and so I've been starting to think of growing a little further outwards, becoming a bit more involved in the community. That's why I've been thinking about what I can do to support friends. If I have energy and attention beyond what's needed to improve our household's quality of life to a reasonable point, I can look into helping and getting to know other people around me.

Fortunately, people around me tend to be geeks who don't mind when I reach for awkwardly technical phrases like "explicitly negotiated communication protocols" (the phrase "talking about talking" doesn't quite fit). I enjoy exploring questions, perspectives, and ideas. I tend to combine pessimistic planning with optimistic belief in people and a large dose of loving-kindness and acceptance. It's not always easy – sometimes I catch myself wishing away the challenges that other people face – but I learn a lot.

Now that I've been reaching out to other people, more, I've started noticing this strange little quirk. I want to explore it in writing so that I can point to it and see it more clearly, and maybe I can learn from other people's experiences along the way too.

2015-04-08e On keeping the bigger picture in mind – index card #connecting #support #ego

Sometimes, after I've shared a reflection, I find myself hoping for an equally thoughtful response: another disclosure, another follow-up question, another exploration. I understand why part of me feels that way. It's part curiosity, part (still!) that slight orientation towards recognition, towards knowing what things are useful.

But I can also see a freer part of me that thinks and reflects and shares without needing reciprocal gifts, and this is the part that I want to encourage in myself. This is the part that is indifferent to being needed, that celebrates when people have found their own stillness for reflection or their own strength to stand.

Even writing about this is something I might distrust a little. I might be writing this mostly for my understanding and long-term memory (having learned the hard way that private notes tend to disappear), but receiving a comment or an e-mail or a blog conversation feels good because of that moment of resonance with someone else.

Still – loving-kindness and acceptance, especially towards myself. It's okay if I want that moment of shared humanity, that resonant thrum of thoughts in sync. And it's also okay if I make it a gift, to let the people I want to support choose how much support and when and in what way.

To never need to be needed, but to share life out of generosity – I think that's one of the freedoms I want to cultivate. Hmm…