21/12/2025
TO STAY CLOSE WITHOUT LOSING YOURSELF
Oh yes, the greatest challenge and lesson of all:
To stay close to yourself in the presence of another!
Even when their hearts are broken and raw.
Even when they are struggling.
To listen deeply,
without trying to save or fix them,
or be the "teacher," "therapist," or "healer."
Without giving them unwanted advice
and disempowering them by force-feeding them
second-hand, regurgitated "answers"
from second-hand gods and gurus.
To make room for another while tending fiercely to yourself!
To bring empathy HERE while offering empathy THERE,
and not getting the two mixed up.
To no longer abandon yourself for another in codependency.
Yet to no longer abandon another for yourself in narcissism.
But to find a loving middle place.
Where deep listening can happen.
Where painful truths can be told.
Where true connection can grow.
Where trauma can emerge into a holding field.
Where healing can happen
and love can blossom
without "trying to heal" or "trying to love."
Connection through deep relaxation.
Healing through unconditional receiving.
Meeting each other in a vast field of Presence.
This is the work of a lifetime, the work of this moment.
- Jeff Foster