Flashlights

Awareness is like a flashlight.  It illumines what it is pointed to.  Many of us are absorbed with understanding ourselves.  We have the light pointed in our own face.  Obviously, this is an inefficient way of seeing.  We are blinded when the light is shining in our own eyes.  Add to that, we are looking through the lens of our own unexamined beliefs.

What works so much better is to open to others.  Allow them to shine their light on you and tell you what they see.  Chances are, they can see you, more clearly than you see yourself.  You can return the favor and help them to see themselves as well.

Just bear in mind that you are bigger than anyone's story of you, including your own.  Accept what is offered, gratefully, as feedback.  Look for where you can find truth in it, but don't believe that whatever is seen is the ultimate truth about you.  At best, it is a story of how you appear to another.

Especially doubt any story of guilt.  Beneath illusion, you are innocent.  Guilt is a lie, but only 100% of the time.  However, it is often true that this innocence can only be found, by carefully examining our stories.