We all have something special within. Something unique and precious. It won’t look precious to everyone, because we all value different things, but to some people, what you have deep down in your heart is a shining treasure. This thing inside is what makes you YOU – it’s your feelings, your values, your vision of the world, your highest aspirations and your wildest desires. It’s a world as big and as rich as the one we inhabit. When you let someone into this world you are offering them a gift; when someone allows you into their world, you should regard it as a privilege and an honour.
There is so much that gets in the way of intimacy, that it is quite a rare occurrence when two souls manage to bypass all formalities, all constructs and all mistrust and come in direct contact. Entering the portals of true intimacy is a golden opportunity that requires immense courage and mutual respect. It’s like being given a pass into a realm of new knowledge and understanding, a ticket to a playground of opportunities and lessons to learn (and unlearn). It’s a chance to taste love and experience pain, so that you can heal it. It’s being granted free access to a private universe – a universe that cannot be replicated or imitated.
Our complex minds and feelings were not created to skim through the surface of life. Unless we are functioning in survival mode, we will always be looking to reach farther and deeper. We crave meaningful connections that allow us to understand the self and fully enjoy the experience of being human. Intimacy is the gateway to that heightened level of feeling that we instinctively seek from the moment we are born. This is why, regardless of what’s happening around you, you mustn’t downplay the importance of your inner space. Don’t devalue it by neglecting it or by inviting in those who do not care to explore it. The star that some can’t even discern can illuminate the paths of many others. Turn to those who see the extraordinary in you, and gracefully accept the fact that some won’t. Acknowledge criticism and use it as a precious tool to help you grow, but don’t spend any time fighting against the current.
Remember to keep cultivating your inner world. It’s your personal refuge when the world outside lets you down, so make sure it is comfortable and welcoming. It will never be perfect, but there are many who will enter it with joy and be inspired, delighted and enlightened by its fruits; inevitably, they will also drop their own seeds, and help you beautify and expand your kingdom. If you follow your intuition, you will instinctively know how to enrich that inner territory of yours and how to declutter it and weed out anything that obstructs the clarity of your vision and the harmony of your emotions.
As you nurture that private part of you, look for the marvellous in everyone you meet. If you can’t see it, let them continue their journey towards those who will. Not everyone will awaken a flame in you, and you won’t glow up for everyone, but when a spark between two people is ignited, when there’s an exchange of keys to allow each other into that crazy, wonderful realm of thoughts and stories and fanciful dreams, it is an exceptional occurrence to be cherished.
When you step inside the inner world of another, the distinct glow of their light will illuminate parts of yourself that had been shrouded in darkness. The other has the power to make you aware of your own beauty as well as your personal limitations. You will see fragments of yourself shining for the first time, or past traumas emerging and perhaps transforming into strength. And the best part of all is that the process will be reciprocal. That innermost dimension becomes a sacred ground where life-transforming exchanges, and magic, can take place.
This opening of secret doors, this allowing of unrestrained communication, this total trusting, this taking and giving, this teaching and learning, is what makes life worth living.
— Mersa Auda
