❤️ LOVE, MAY WE ALWAYS CHOOSE LOVE ❤️

I have a confession to make. I live in America and it absolutely grieves my heart to see such division among us. My heart literally aches. 💔

Right now all that I see is a huge divide among us. It is an Us vs Them mentality. It doesn’t matter what side anyone is on. It is literally Us vs Them.

I also see a nation hurting. It makes me think of something Joyce Meyer talks about often in her books, “Hurting people, hurt people.”

Because of the work that I do as a mental health counselor, I see so much hurting from so many root sources: trauma, abuse, mental health, addictions, health problems, broken relationships/families, and so much more.

These are heartbreaking stories and they are the very real lives of our dear clients.

I ALWAYS say, “It is an honor and a privilege to walk along beside someone on their journey of healing, growth, and recovery.” And I mean that with all sincerity from deep in my soul.

Why would I share this? Because I’m meeting someone where they are at. I am focused on the very real state of their heart and mind and life. I am moved to compassion every.single.time. ❤️ I know what it is like to hurt after all. We all do.

And it occurs to me now. How do we heal the heart of our nation? We do so by no longer looking at Us vs Them. We look past Red vs Blue. We do this by looking at the humanity within all of us.

We all experience hurts. We all laugh. We all experience love. We all experience loss. We all are part of a family, even if it is a family of our own choosing.

I can’t help but believe that if we all begin to look into the eyes and the soul of the person before us, we could see beyond what is the primary thing on everyone’s minds these days.

If we look at each individual as the people that we all are, we might see someone whose heart aches over a family member whose is battling addiction. We might find common ground as two people who have lost a beloved person so dear that both our hearts are breaking. Perhaps there are two folks who are both stepping out to start a new phase in their careers. Maybe there are two new parents celebrating the birth of their precious child.

Oh dear ones, these are our common experiences. These are our connections. This is my heart connecting with your heart because we share a common joy or sorrow or nervousness or excitement.

A common component of recovery in a Twelve Step program is service. Ultimately why this is a vital part of recovery is because it gets us outside of ourselves. Instead of me, me, me, it switches our focus outward toward what we can do for others. There is a beautiful miracle that takes place in that person’s soul. It makes one feel good! It makes a person feel a part of something bigger than oneself.

The quote below comes to my mind.

“Be the change you want to see in the world 🌎.”

And we can do just that by beginning to connect our hearts again. May we begin to look at how we can love each other again. Simple acts. Kind acts. Random acts. These can heal the anger, the hatred, the divide.

I hear so many say, “I am so tired of this!” I don’t even have to qualify or quantify that statement.

So let’s get tired together today and every day moving forward!

I am going to offer up a challenge. May every person who reads these words, find one way to be kind to someone today. Do it. And do it again the next day. And the next.

See what happens within your heart.

I will do this. And I vow every day to share a brief blog about what I did and how I feel about it.

Won’t you join me? We can heal our divided nation and our world by connecting one heart to another. Over and over again. I TRULY BELIEVE THIS.

The time is now dear reader ❤️

Blessings (and connections and love),

Christine