TO KNOW SOMEONE DEEPLY

“To know someone deeply is like hearing the moon through the ocean or having a hawk lay bright leaves at your feet. It seems impossible, even when it happens.”
~ Anonymous

Discovering who we are is like breaking trail up the side of a mountain. Yet the deepest friendships begin when we look into the eye of another and discover that they have been there too. It is always astonishing to me to find out that someone else sees what I have seen, and always humbling to learn what I thought was my path and my mountain is everyone’s.

We carry whole worlds within us as we brush by each other in the supermarket to read the mayonnaise jars. The entire drama of life churns in our blood as we rush underground to catch a train. We are always both so known and so unknown.

This is why knowing someone deeply is such a treasure. It opens the sky of all time. It lets the song come our of the sea. It lets the heart like a photograph be developed for being touched by another.

And though we may find someone along the way who’s been where we are going or going where we have been, we must never stop breaking our own trail up the mountain. For only by daring to be ourselves can we deeply know others.

~ This is a walking meditation. As you make your way to work or the store, walk steadily and breathe slowly.

~ As you breathe, feel the inwardness that is you.

~ As you walk and breathe, notice others doing the same.

~ As you meet the eyes of others, realize that they are just as deep as you.

The Book of Awakening

~ Mark Nepo