156: Always Return

When we make our relationships into projects, when we demand that the people close to us be different to how they are, when we bring only our 'fix things', 'make things happen', 'change things' energy to them, we should perhaps not be surprised that the people we are in relationship with quickly become disappointments to us. And, as we do this, we quickly become difficult to find and meet deeply ourselves. What if we were to return, often, to the possibility of returning to our flexibility, capacity to nurture and witness others, our ability to listen in an unhurried way?  This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about what can happen in our relationships when we learn to inhabit the side of ourselves that lets life flow through and that is able to welcome all things whether beautiful or painful, with Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website.

Our source this week is brought to us by Lizzie:

Always Return
by William Martin

It is good to know your own strength
but always return to your flexibility.
If you can cradle your beloved in your arms
in nurturing gentleness,
love will flow through you.
It is good to achieve things
but always return to anonymity.
Your beloved does not need your achievements
but needs your uncomplicated soul.
It is good to work for change,
but always return to what is.
If you accept all things whether painful or joyful,
you will always know
that you belong to each other
and to the Tao.
Return today,
to that which brings you life;
enfolding, caressing,
soothing, nurturing,
forgiving and accepting.

Photo by Richie Nolan on Unsplash