Enlightening Views By Sophia Falke
Who’s In Your Picture? If I were to take a photo of you right now, who would be in your picture? Would it be family? Friends? Business Associates? People you hang out with? Do these people invigorate and inspire you and see what’s right and beautiful with you and with the world? Or do they drain your energy and always seem to find something wrong with everything? Your picture probably has a combination of both types—those that support and those that drain your energy. We all do. But is your picture skewed more to the negative or the positive? And which group do you focus on? Who exactly is in your picture? Who would you like to be in your picture? Do you want angry, negative nay-sayers? Do you want inspired, prosperous, loving people? And which set makes you feel more spacious, positive, and joyous about life? The answers to these questions might seem obvious. “Yes, of course, I want positive, supportive people in my picture!” Yet, we often get so attached to the people, habits, and outcomes we are accustomed to that we don’t see the drain some of the people in our picture have on us. I find that often people are like potted plants. If you have ever had houseplants, you know what happens when you leave the plant in a container for too long. Yes, it starts to wither and die. Why? Because it becomes root bound and the dirt it lives in has become depleted of all its nutritive value. Do you ever feel like that? Like you’re being held back on every side—physically, mentally, and spiritually? Like you’re withering? When a plant begins to wither, you transplant it into a bigger pot with nutritive soil. The plant comes back almost immediately. It revitalizes because it is no longer constricted in an environment that inhibits its growth. When the elements that had surrounded the plant and sustained it in its early development could no longer support its continued growth, they had to be replaced and revitalized. And it’s a process that continues. Eventually, the plant will become root-bound in its new environment and again have to be replanted. It’s often like that with people. We look to the people who are around us for our emotional, spiritual, and professional nourishment. They are able to support us for a while, but then there comes a point where, like the potted plant, these friends, family members, co-workers, or spiritual guides can no longer support our continued growth. Sometimes it’s because they are in a consciousness of fear and anger. Sometimes it’s simply because they are taking a path different from our own. And sometimes it is because they are way ahead of us and w e ’ re n o t quite ready to step into such greatness. For whatever reason, we often have to change the people in our picture. We need to find people of like mind who will nurture and support us in our growth at a particular point of time. When we talk about spiritual growth, we recognize that the inner journey is a solo one. But the support of others can make it easier to achieve our transformation. The support of others helps shield us from the winds of pessimism that blow toward us by well-meaning—and not-so-well-meaning— friends and acquaintances.
support of the people I worked with, either through job promotions or in finding a higher-level position elsewhere. When they were not supportive, I left that picture entirely and found a new professional picture that buoyed me in my growth, that gave me a new pot with nutritive soil. The area of my picture where it is usually most painful to make changes is in my personal relationships. That’s where the closest emotional attachments are, and it often takes longer to see that those relationships are harmful. Sometimes I need to cut the people out of my picture entirely because they are so toxic for me. Often, I simply move the negative, nay-saying, critical people to the periphery of my picture, focusing on my own growth rather than their rootbound attitudes. And people sometimes leave my picture because our journeys take us down separate paths. We remain connected by love, respect and fond memories of mutual lessons learned, but are no longer in each other’s pictures. Who’s in your picture? Who do you want within your picture frame called life? It’s a choice we make daily and requires us to do the inner emotional and spiritual work that raises our vibration and attracts to us like-minded seekers. As we create individual pictures of love, joy, prosperity and good health, fill them with supportive, nurturing people, we create a mural of shared pictures that will eventually transform the world. Let us each do our part in creating a global picture of luminous life! Sophia Falke is a certified coach, seminar leader, and professional speaker through her business Embracing Greatness (EmbracingGreatness.com). She is also minister at Unity Center in the Valley (uciv.org). You can reach her at Sophia@EmbracingGreatness.com or by calling 702-456-9133.
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We need to find people of like mind who will nurture and support us in our growth at a particular point in time.
The same holds true in our personal, business, and social relationships. Going back to the potted plant analogy, we may have grown as much as we can in our current environment and find ourselves root bound. We’re ready to grow more and require that growth to thrive. I’ve been in the situation many times in my life. When it was professional growth that I needed, I usually received the
IN LIGHT TIMES • february, 2012 • PAGE 13