It is not, by chance, that we meet the people we are supposed to meet. Yes, we meet strangers and think they are interesting people, but, I am talking about knowing, right to your marrow, that thee newly met people are , somehow, important in your life. And, yes, you are also meant to meet some who will teach you difficult lessons. As I wrote in the blog yesterday, you realize that I have come to know that some people might stay decades, but then, the relationship ends. They were not meant to stay any longer. Them leaving opens the door for new people to come in. And, so it is…so it is.
We may believe that some people ought to be forever friends. Sometimes forever friend means that they are a person, or persons, who are in our lives to teach us lessons, and then they are meant to leave, and it is the lesson learned that stays forever. Maybe their leaving your life is their lesson. Maybe the staying might be as brief as a moment’s greeting. Maybe they stay a long time and you learn many lessons. Every person you meet is a lesson. They are in your life, however brief, however long, for a reason. Some are their to comfort you. Some are there to teach you something so hard that it will bring you to your knees. Some are there to teach you. Some are there to challenge you. Their coming and going has meaning. It is up to us to realize it, to acknowledge it, to learn what it is we are to learn from it all.
Sometimes, deep in your heart, you, unconsciously, make a wish, a prayer, send it up to the Universe that you need something. Time passes, sometimes long, sometimes short, and suddenly, a person or persons stand right before you in a chance meeting… or what you might think is chance. These kinds of people are meant to be in your life, perhaps for a short time, and you do not attach to them emotionally, to help you with your wish or prayer, or silent plea. I was at a conference in Rapid City/Rosebud, for a leadership conference with Native Head Start. An elder got up to give opening remarks. He said: “Every one of you is here today because an ancestor prayed for such as you to come.” The responsibility laid hard on me, but I would become what they wished of me, in Native American education, for 23 years. I went through de[privation, danger, sacrifices, but I carried on and worked in isolation or semi-isolated communities for 23 years. I loved my work so much I thought I would work until I died up there. But something other than my death would happen. I fell in love with my soulmate and retired early and moved to his home in Maine. What was even better was that my sense of responsibility had me stay in really difficult co0mmunities, cultures, and sometimes I beat the odds against isolation. But I was repaid in full for my sacrifices. I got to learn and experience cultures that defined my soul. I learned to love areas, people who became like family, and stepped into traditional ceremonies and teachings I could never have learned any other way. Sometimes, with my kids (students), I saw God every day. I could almost say that that Elder in Rosebud was guide, I put myself in place to meet.
Some people, who enter your life, raise the quality of your life because they will set you on a new path. They stay long enough in your life that they get you following a path you were meant to walk. Again, much like guides but their stay in your life is short and you may attach to them emotionally. It is as if they were transition people, that show up when you are changing some way. You enjoy being around them. You make good memories with them. But, they are the ones who suddenly walk out of your life, leaving you with some hurting issues you are left to work out. Working through the woundings, you grow and change and learn from the experience so that you do not allow in people who will misguide you, misuse you, and teach you hard lessons about yourself.
Then, there are the detour people you let into your life. These are people who will slow down your process of living a purposeful life. But they also might redirect your path through a simple conversation. I met a store manager of a natural apothecary last week. A few minutes spent in his environment, a few minutes speaking with him, a few questions I asked, a few statements he made, and I was changed, I could feel it. The theme, the information, the way he spoke, the kind of language he spoke, resonated within me. He was truth telling and igniting a fire in me to research, to study, to seek more of the information he shared. I was set off on a new path of thought, research, about seeking higher-planed thought. He redirected me in a positive way. But then, I have met other people, for a few moments, that immediately, I knew was there because I needed not to walk down the path that person was speaking of. In my past, I was so much more a helper person and I chose needy men in my life that I thought, however sick of me, I could fix. I was delayed on my path for , sometimes, years, dealing with thinking I could change their lives and I had no right to even be doing so and I paid a heavy price for it. The same happened with friends I chose to spend my energy on. There comes an emotional attachment and it is hard to let them go or see them go out of your life. I had to seriously rethink my attachments and I am still smarting from some of these kinds of people that I allowed to draw me in on their paths instead of mine. I am being redirected back onto a wonderful path full of good people because I let go of those who would hold me back, or hold me from even progressing on my authentic life journey down here on Mother Earth. Crisis pain can come but then, once you truly let me be, let them go, you are more dedicated to the path that is right for you. And, of course, it can open the door for spiritual guide kind of people who lovingly support, encourage and bless you with their wisdom and help you know you are walking on the right road. Once you let go of the negative, you open the pathway to those who are there to help you walk the right walk.
And, along the way, you are going to meet your tribal people, the people who cheer you on as you go. They are the comfortable people to be around. They are pure-hearted people who protect you, who remind you you are on the right track, who keep you safely there because they have no agenda other than loving you for all the right and spiritual reasons. I have such friends in my life; those who lovingly support me with np hidden agenda other than that we are friends and we care about each other. I have been blessed to have met even more supportive people just lately. It was serendipity how we met. I so needed them in my life. They fill a void in my life that I had longed for; traditional people with like purposes of life, with knowledge to share, with an automatic care for me that is full of traditional ways I so relate to, who are travelers, like me, on the path I am to walk on.
Suddenly, when you meet good people that truly care about you and the spiritual path you walk, there will be those who suddenly show up in your life to help and care for you as you journey. It is serendipity, and you and the person(s) you meet, will automatically recognize each other, almost like lost family. There is something about these kinds of relationships that can only be described as spiritual leaders who are humble and comforting and caring, and lead you by example. How dear is their care.
I wish we all to find our tribe, to find our people, who support us on the right path for us, to guide and love, and care for us as we journey on through this life.
©Carol Desjarlais 10.15.23
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