Letter to a friend

Dear Friend,

I am an imperfect person. That is for sure. I feel a lot and I think far too much than one really should. I worry a little too much (caused by the over-thinking), I take most things to heart, and I have few to little emotional borders that can protect the human spirit. I am stubborn and competitive. I am a talker, and when I do listen am a good listener, but need to remember to actually do it for it to be effective. I never quite feel good enough on my worst of worst days and on the best, still have an edge of self-doubt hanging around my shoulders. I see the flaws in my outer shell forgetting all too quickly that’s just my casing, not my soul or heart that equals what matters.

 I am all of these things and have a longer line than we have time for of all of my imperfections, but at the end of the line, my imperfections –like those that live within us all – make me up to be me, and for that reason I hereby wouldn't change a single one of them.

I'm learning that instead of ‘change’ being the operative word, growth with and interaction between these imperfections should indeed be the goal. Knowing when to let things go to my heart and when to kick their butt with my head, is one example. Knowing how to brush things off just a little more than I do to protect my tender heart is another. Looking at my outer shell and acknowledging it as a pretty good outer shell filled with health, clarity and working joints and systems is always a good place to start.

But see my dear friend it is through you I learn how to deal with the other imperfections. I realise it can hurt generally us both, but mostly it crashes into you, when I make another discovery, but through you and because of you I get the beautiful opportunity to learn and grow from it. To acknowledge it and move on from it, gaining your love and respect along the way and learning more about who I am within it. They say friends act as a mirror, and when I met you I knew it to be true. Whilst we are so different you show me the different sides I need in my life and need for my well-being. You show me who I want to be, and where I'm currently at, and I see life as it really is.

I see me, through you. Because of you.  And thanks to you. My hope as always will be, my dear friend, that I be of similar value to you in your journey of life.

Human Family By: Maya Angelou

I note the obvious differences

in the human family.

Some of us are serious,

some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived

as true profundity,

and others claim they really live

the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones

can confuse, bemuse, delight,

brown and pink and beige and purple,

tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas

and stopped in every land,

I've seen the wonders of the world

not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women

called Jane and Mary Jane,

but I've not seen any two

who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different

although their features jibe,

and lovers think quite different thoughts

while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,

we weep on England's moors,

and laugh and moan in Guinea,

and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,

are born and die in Maine.

In minor ways we differ,

in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences

between each sort and type,

but we are more alike, my friends,

than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,

than we are unalike. 

We are more alike, my friends,

than we are unalike.