Today's
Meditation:
Most
of us have walls built up in our lives, mostly because we
think that they'll protect us and keep us from harm.
If we don't stop to think of what we're keeping in or out,
though, there's a good chance that the walls we've built
will end up harming us more than helping us.
I
used to keep people at a distance behind my walls because
I had a great fear of rejection. While my walls did
keep me from feeling the sting of rejection, though, they
also kept people from showing me affection, from being my
friends, from feeling any sort of closeness to me at
all. My walls ended up keeping me isolated and
lonely, all because I thought I was protecting myself.
And
what was I keeping in at the same time? Well, I was
still feeling my isolation and loneliness, and I was
continuing to hold on to my fears. They weren't able
to get out of the walls that I had built so high, so I had
to keep them inside there with me! The walls that I
thought were so useful actually were the most destructive
part of my life, and it took me a very long time to tear
them down.
Be
slow to build walls. Be slow to build fences that
will keep neighbors out. While the walls and fences
may serve some important functions--and some walls are
absolutely necessary--they also have residual effects that
we may not consider before we build them.
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