What are you looking for?

Do you just see the muddy road?
Or
the colour of a glass of chocolate milk?

Do you see the dark grey stormy clouds
or
the shining silver lining behind?

Do you see derelict buildings
or
The opportunity to build and repair?

Do you smell the stench of rotting vegetables
or
The joy of having a bowl of fresh organic salad

Do you see the creases and crows feet
or
The tiny spark of hope in the eye

Do you see unpainted, uncared for feet
or
The story of strength behind

Do you see anger spent
or
The years of abuse lying dormant

Do you see tired hands
or
A labour of love

It's not just the physical eyes that need to see
but
The eyes of the Heart

See beyond the outer
And learn to read between the lines
Look for whats not obvious
And start seeing that which begs to be seen

Do you belong?

Belonging. 

Acceptance 

Feeling wanted 

In possession of 

Needed 

intimacy with another 

Feeling secure 

Being 

Associations 

A relationship 

Loved 

A Myriad of ways to define belonging 

So why this endless search to find it? 

People search for belonging in what they do 

In what they wear 

In where they live 

In what others around them are doing and saying

People search for relationships that fulfill

Them, 

not realizing that belonging starts with knowing your Self. 

That belonging is independent of and 

Mutually exclusive with our environment

Who are you really? 

Just as the sage Greek philosophers emphasized to Know Thyself.

Therein lies our answer. 

The search therefore is not so much to belong, 

but to find ourselves. 

That Higher Self that the metaphysicians so often tell us. 

Maintaining a fine balance between Freud's Id, Ego and SuperEgo. 

We may not need to go beyond looking into the eyes of the person staring back at us in the mirror. 

At least to start with. 

That exciting journey within to find that 

Sense of 

Belonging 

Perhaps it's about love in its truest form

You cannot give that which you do not have. 

We want to feel loved and accepted. 

But do we really love and accept ourselves first?  

Do we have an intimate relationship with ourself? 

Are we whole beings walking around or do we need to pick up the shards lying around us

Shards that when glued just might create a magnificent piece of art 

Pieces that might be cracked 

But pieces that belong to each other 

Pieces with a purpose 

Living in the in-betweens

Life is lived in the in betweens

In between what though? 

Between birthdays 

Those glorious celebrations 

Of family 

Blood kinship 

People who've seen us at our very best 

Our absolute worst 

With whom we quarrel over both 

Significant snd insignificant issues 

People who've shared our happiest moments 

And our harshest defeats 

We've been given family as

Mirroring shadows 

Who hold us accountable to our 

Words and actions 

We get to celebrate each of them 

Birthdays of friends

Who give family stiff competition 

Though not bound by blood 

By equally if not stronger bonds of love 

Those people 

Who gradually move from being 

Strangers to friends 

A word so simple it belies the

strength and depth 

Of every single experience that went into 

Making that person a friend

People who make themselves available when you need 

Who more often than you might realize  

Go beyond and out of their way for 

You 

Relationships that so enrich your life

Words seem redundant 

Often falling short 

If we could imagine life lived as a 

Series of endless birthdays 

With moments of routine slipping in

Inevitably 

It might perhaps make life so much 

More hopeful

Make us so much more grateful 

For the people who give us reason to 

Celebrate and make those in between 

Moments 

Go so much faster