I was once told relationships are not for punks. It took me a while to get at the meaning behind that, but what I have learned over the years is that being in an intimate relationship requires courage, strength, and a willingness to make one’s self vulnerable. By intimate, I am not just talking about physical intimacy, but emotional, mental, and spiritual intimacy. That intimacy is developed over time. Intimacy comes when we open ourselves up personally and make ourselves and our lives vulnerable. Over time, your whole life becomes naked to them and to yourself. In an intimate relationship, we open ourselves and are opened by our partner to seeing the powerful and weaker parts of who we are. We also give our partners the permission to do the same. Over time we learn how to know when to stand our ground and when to compromise. We work with each other to become increasingly grounded in who we are and support each other in the journey. When I think about the two human beings in my life with whom I am the most intimate with one thing is true of both, the Ultimate Consciousness is involved in both and the truth is ever revealing itself as we journey together. We are never finished growing or evolving. We are works in progress.
What is amazing about these intimate relationships, brought together by Spirit, is that we have the opportunity to remember that we are works in progress and each day is a day of rebirth; a day to be born again. When we acknowledge what we need to work on next in our journeys, the walls which separate us from others fall away, and we begin to rise to new levels. The people with whom we are in these relationships can become our cheerleaders and supporters reflecting back to us the growth and development they see in our lives and we have the potential to do the same for them. They are also the ones who we know so well that we can reflect areas to them which need to be acknowledged and help them heal and they can do the same for us. We help each other to grow in our spiritual journeys.
This journey is dependent on honesty, courage, authenticity, and vulnerability. One thing is true; we are all works in progress. We are all, as don Miguel Ruiz argues, spiritual warriors. challenging the dreams of fear, lies, false beliefs, and judgments which create suffering and unhappiness in our life and the lives of those we love. May we acknowledge that we are works in progress, working to dismantle all that leads to suffering and unhappiness in our lives. May we be intentional about creating a life of truth, integrity, honesty, understanding which lead to peace and joy.