It's very difficult to grow things in the shade.....growing things need their own sunlight. We need hugs without being captive....we need one another without being shaded by dominance....we need companionship without control.....we need love without being imprisoned. We need to stand in our own sunshine and allow our beloved friends and loved ones to stand in theirs. Seedlings that are not thinned so they have their own sunlight and space soon begin to get spindly and wither...they do not develop the strength to mature.
One of my favorite authors on the subject of love is Leo Buscaglia. I stood in line to get his autograph once upon a time and with that signature came a hug that so encompassed me, I knew from that moment on how to really hug. Not the Hollywood, mamby-pamby hug that pats a little and air kisses the cheek, but a hug that let's you know that you are connected and there is a human kinship between the hugger and the hugee. Here's a little quote by the famous hugger.
"Don't smother each other. No one can grow in the shade." ~Leo Buscaglia
May we polish our souls without needing,
May we open our hearts without bleeding.
May we be together without clinging.
May our spirits fly as if winging.
May love not manipulate and carve,
Another’s dreams or let plans starve.
May we support with kindness and delight
This time and space where love has flight.
For love and light has come invited,
Welcomed hearts are now delighted,
To have and hold sweet dream of bliss,
But not too tight and so it is!
I saw a wonderful picture frame in a shop window yesterday while sister and I were in Seaside...that had the inscription on it...... "Hug as if you mean it."
My grandson, Wyatt and I have always hugged as if we meant it......he has grown into a sixteen year old man. Whew! He still hugs his Granny Joye....thanks Wyatt for all the hugs!
