What The World Needs More Of Is Love, Not Shielding

I was talking with my friend, Sue, from ZuZu’s yesterday. And by the way, she has my calendars now. There was an unexpected delay in getting them there so sorry to anyone who went there looking for them. Please contact me if this is you and I will send you one free of shipping charges.

Back to my story … Sue and I got onto the topic of shielding and both emphatically agreed that opening our hearts is the way to go. Not shielding.

Open your heart when you detect negativity you might be questioning? Why? How?

Shielding is a form of protection. It promotes separation. Let me give you a couple examples of the difference between protecting and opening our hearts.

1. Alice was irritated because her friend Jan never calls her back when she says she will. Initially Alice saw Jan as separate. She took her friend’s behavior personally and saw her as flawed and needing to change. When she sought oneness she opened her heart to the question, “Why am I taking Jan’s behavior so personally?” and received the answer as a healing opportunity.
   
   By opening her heart in this way Alice realized that she has her own way of lacking in follow through. Being on the receiving end helped her to heal and correct it. Alice went from being irritated to grateful for what she had learned about herself.
   
   If Alice had shielded herself, separated herself, protected/defended herself in some way from Jan she would have missed out on this healing opportunity. Now if Jan doesn’t get back to her when she says she will a warm feeling comes over Alice. She chuckles and thinks to herself, “that’s just Jan.” Alice no longer even thinks to take it personally. That’s liberating.
    
2. The second story that shielding reminded me of was when one of my children was in Children’s Hospital for a week. We were in a room with 6 beds. Most kids were in and out in a few days. But there was this one toddler, a little girl about the same age as my daughter who appeared to have been there with something more serious and the mom was pretty abrasive. Some of the other parents would complain about her attitude either when she wasn’t there or when they were out in the hall. The nicest thing anyone said was, “She doesn’t belong here. She should be on another floor.”
   
   But I saw a different person. I saw a struggling mother. A mother who feared for her child. Yes, she was abrasive, isolating herself even, but I felt for the person underneath the behavior. Every parent in that room was on edge to some degree. After all we were in Children’s Hospital, not at Six Flags.
   
   At one point the ‘abrasive’ mom and I were in the hall together. I don’t recall what I said to her but this exchange is imbedded in my heart. “Why are you so nice to me? Everyone here hates me.” I acknowledged, “If I were you, I’d be cranky too.” She opened up to share that her baby had a curable form of leukemia but wasn’t responding to the treatment. She shared some other personal information that was adding to her stress as well. In hindsight I can see how my open heart had invited hers to share.
   
   By the time my daughter was discharged this woman and I had become friends. I called periodically to see how her daughter was doing. They did get moved to another floor where she could get the care she needed but unfortunately her health continued to deteriorate and within a few weeks she passed. After that it was too painful for the mom to keep in touch and I completely understood.

• What good could shielding have provided in either of these cases?
• In hindsight who were the negative ones?
• What are you expecting when you shield?
• What are you expecting when you open your heart to receive?

What you expect is what you get. I can’t possibly go through every scenario under the sun but I think you are beginning to catch my drift.

What the world needs more of is love, not shielding.

Do you have a story? Can you relate? Are you open to the possibility?

Friends in this Love,
Dr. Trish