It has been said that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, and I believe that to be true. I have come to understand, however, that it is within our humanity that we find our divinity. I am one of those people that truly embraces being human. I am so grateful to be able to experience the full and delicious array of opportunities, emotions, and sensations that human life has to offer.  Well…most of the time anyway.

I recently got to be up close and personal with my humanity.  I was in a situation where I was unquestionably being mistreated by someone.  I had a really interesting array of responses to this situation. I went through anger, frustration, victimhood, blame, shame, guilt, sadness, grief, revenge, hopelessness…you get the idea.  I was fully immersed in my humanity! I mean, if being human was an Olympic sport, my reaction to this situation would have earned a perfect 10 (even from the East German judge)…not that there’s anything wrong with that!  Being fully human is completely a part of our process… but too much of anything…even something fabulous…can become unhealthy (think 15 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in one day)!

The intriguing thing to me about it is that there was this amazing thread of rationality running through me the whole time.  Any time I stopped and really looked at what was happening, I could see, without question, that how this person was treating me actually had nothing to do with me.  I knew the Truth with total clarity.  You see, how people treat us is never about us at all.  It is always about that person’s wounds and judgments.  For example, someone who is shutting me out and pushing me away might be afraid of being abandoned and just wants to beat me to the punch. Or if a person is always criticizing me it might be because he doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin so he has to redirect attention onto anything other than his own faults.  So, when I realized I knew THAT…I couldn’t help but wonder…WHY IS THIS STILL SO DIFFICULT?

After a few more days at play in my humanity, an interesting thought occurred to me.  How someone else treats me may not be about me, but how I respond is TOTALLY about me!  In this circumstance I was choosing, again and again, to surrender my power, to take things personally, and to focus on outer circumstances instead of God.  The moment I realized this, my energy began to shift and every day I felt stronger, clearer and more connected to my true source, my Divine and limitless source of love and support.  When I clearly understood my limiting human response to the situation, I returned to a place of power within my own being.

So there it was, right in the midst of my raw humanity…a glimpse of the magnificence of me.  I will continue to be grateful for the human experience and the perfect imperfection of it all!