Our People

“All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied. And to be a simple kind of man, someone you can love and understand.” -Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ahhhhhhhh! Do you ever experience that massive sigh of relief when you know that you will spend the day or the evening or a lunch or a dinner with your nearest and dearest? Those in your life that love you unconditionally even though they know every deep, dark and desperate part of you? Those who love you despite the fact that you are compelled to have a 10 minute conversation with the server about which bottle of wine has been opened within the past hour and that you really don’t want a glass of wine from any bottle that was opened any earlier? Those who love you even though you contemplate your entire day’s meals and how each cuisine should complement each other? Those people who love you even though you are always typically 15 – 20 minutes late even with your best effort. Those people. The ones. Your people. Those who say: “She’s a nut and she drives me insane but I love her despite it all.” I am so fortunate. I have those people. Some are family…so they are stuck with me. Others are connected because of family…so they are stuck with me, too. And those who are just the best of friends who aren’t stuck…they just stick around. I am one lucky gal!

Tonight, I expected to have dinner with my nearest and dearest, my brother and his partner whom I also consider a very good friend, Jason. The three of us haven’t had a sit-down (just the three of us) in quite some time, and I was so looking forward to a really raw, lay it out there, this is what’s goin’ on kind of dinner. I was eager to catch up. They are my people, and I was missing them a lot. So, I strolled into the restaurant (only 5 minutes late this time) and was stunned when I noticed the other woman sitting at the table with them munching on chips and salsa! The other woman is Johnny and Jason’s neighbor, Michelle. And I enjoy her. And she is fantastic. And she is a good friend to the both of them. But I was deflated when I saw her. What about our unconditional, I can be me, I can let it all hang out, I can eat my disproportionate share of bread pudding dinner? Initially, I was crushed. Ho hum. Poor me.

But then I started thinking…What if I just let myself be raw? What if I just laid it all out there? What if I ate my disproportionate share of bread pudding? What if I let my truth reveal itself? Shakti Gawain says: “We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people’s models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.” So I decided to settle in, soften into the moment and relax into me. Ahhhhhhh! That massive sigh of relief returned and I felt okay.

I am just learning to be me. And more significantly, learning to be comfortable with me. And it is terrifying some days…and joyfully liberating on others. It wasn’t until I made a commitment to my truth and dedicated my life to a consistent yoga practice that I understood this concept of listening to my truth, trusting my truth and sharing my truth. I have always been so distracted. Busy. Trying to figure it all out and being “on” for the world around me. Erich Schiffmann says: “We have never stayed home long enough to experience the truth about ourselves.” I am so infrequently, home.

So go home once in awhile. Your people, those ones, your nearest and dearest are right there, always there and will always love you despite your tendency to overindulge on bread pudding. When we listen to our truth and we are honest with ourselves and others, everyone we encounter becomes our people.