We interact with so many people every day, on one level or another. We smile at the cute stranger passing us by in the street; we exchange few words with the waiter at our favourite bar. We bump into people on the way to work; we sit or stand amongst them on buses, trains, and subways. We exchange glances, frowns or shrugs with some; start conversations with others or simply try to ignore everyone. We are aware of some of the faces around us but very unaware of thousands of others that just blend with the background of our lives, never rising up to the surface of our thought processes; never registering in our minds as anything more than a white noise we take for granted.
This happens throughout our life – we are surrounded by people, from our family and friends to cousins, doctors, teachers, co-workers and bosses, lovers and soulmates. Some simply come and go, others stay longer, or even for the rest of our lives. We make friends, we lose friends. We fall in love and we fall out of love. We change work, colleagues and acquaintances. We forget some people quickly, while the thoughts and memories of others linger around us for years.
Some people have minimal impact on our lives, and we forget they ever existed. Some make us angry, others we are jealous of. Some lead the lives we want; while others remind us how lucky we are to have a life we have. Some people seem to influence us, inspire us, change us on a deeper level, while others are just a backdrop of our lives or serve a very specific, temporary purpose. Either way, their presence means something; the fact they are alive NOW, that we share at least a small slice of eternity with them, whether aware of it or not, makes all the difference.
We are all alchemists to each other’s hearts; converting hearts and souls back to Gold they originated from; creating experiences or simply a space for expansion – by being there, by providing challenges, making each other crazy; by showing love, missing each other, caring selflessly. Everything we do somehow enriches us and everyone else. Every smile, every kind word, every kiss and beautiful gesture, but also every disappointment, every broken promise, every forgotten anniversary and every heartbreak.
Everyone somehow affects us, changes us, betters us. Our pets teach us unconditional love, our friends how to say “sorry” or forgive; ex-lovers how to move on and still keep an open heart. Thieves teach us to let go, magicians to believe, politicians to speak louder. Children make us see the world brighter, elders to feel it deeper, death to appreciate it more.
Spiritual teachers guide us, soulmates carry us, lovers heal us – alchemists to our hearts, as much as we are to theirs. Our smiles give strength and spread warmth; our strength gives hope, our unwillingness to quit after a failure shows dedication and faith to anyone witnessing it. Our tears invoke compassion in those ready to be compassionate and anger in those not. Every word is a lesson, every act of kindness also, just as every insult and every broken bone.
It’s a kind of spiritual chemistry, subtle but unavoidable and relentless and never-fading. The colours of our very soul are defined by its magic. Our hues constantly change and shift, affected by the chemistry of souls that touch us, leaving their gentle, almost undefinable imprint on us, just as we leave ours on them. Beautiful, amazing, colourful souls we are, until we reveal the Gold underneath it all again and shine it back to everyone else as true Alchemists always do.
Never be afraid of your own Light, or reluctant of the Light of others. We learn and teach simultaneously, whether we are aware of it or not. Our presence touches everyone we encounter and their presence affects us equally. We absorb their energies, moods and emotions; we emit even more. It’s a subtle process most of the time and we might not even be aware of it as it happens.
Make no mistake, every person you ever came in contact with, every smile, frown, curse; every gesture, every challenge, hardship or obstacle put in front of you served its purpose. People close to you might affect you in a more palpable way, but everyone else has a role to play, too. We are all like atoms, constantly bouncing into each other, forming temporary molecules, compounds and complex structures, before dissolving back to the Source.
So, no one ever abandoned you, and no one ever came to stay forever. No need to hold on to anyone more than it is necessary. We all help each other through some moves on our way forward, exactly as much as needed, and as long as it’s needed.
To feel that truth always is to know Grace.
To live that way is to understand Non-attachment.
To appreciate its intricate beauty is to know Gratefulness.
To surrender to its flow is to know Faith.
