Lessons

I read a blog post from another blogger this weekend.  It was a very good post.  http://therumpus.net/2011/02/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-64/  (Note: If difficult life situations and colorful language bother you, you might want to skip it.)  I have not experienced the same situations as this person, but there are lessons for me in this post anyway.  That acknowledgement started my thinking processes which usually means I started asking questions too.  How am I different from this blogger?  How have my own experiences shaped how I look at my life and my choices?  My questions often lead me to more questions and only occasionally answers.  What can I learn from this blogger?  How do her experiences speak to me in my own experiences?  Where are we alike?  And then the strangest of clear answers . . . Her life experiences, her choices may be very different from my own, but she still has lessons to teach me.  The details of our struggles may be different, but the underlying struggle is the same.  Do I show myself compassion in my mistakes?  Do I set and honor the boundaries I know are necessary to be true to myself, my beliefs, etc? Why do I insist on judging others when I NEVER have all the information?  Am I comfortable enough in my own skin that I can show compassion, kindness, gratitude to MYSELF and to others?  We are more alike than different, we humans on this planet.  Our differences make us unique, our likenesses make human.  Thanks, Cheryl Strayed, for schooling me today.  May I remember this lesson every day.