Summer has been busy for us and I am sure all of you can relate! While busy means fun, connection, energy and new beginnings; I find it hard to stay centered  without a little help. My help for the last few days has been Eckhart Tolle’s lecture on Audible- Enlightened Relationships. I highly recommend it. It is a little under 2 hours and you can turn it on in the car… or while brushing your teeth or doing the dishes 🙂

Eckhart touches on relationships in which there is an ends to a mean. For example, when you go to Barnes and Noble to buy your spiritual book du jour, or the new ice cream shop to get your flavor du jour, do you connect with the person that is ringing you up? Do you say hello and make eye contact? Eckhart explains that when you just hand the person your credit card , make sure they rung it up correctly and then walk off, you are practicing a form of de-humanizing. Yes, this sounds a little dramatic… but as I listened more, it really began to make sense. Not only does it feel a bit sunnier inside to make the connection, it also spreads some light and happiness.

I recall, in my days as a waitress, that I was always pleasantly surprised when a guest would just make eye contact with me. They didn’t need to ask about my day or anything like that… but just eye contact and a hello, went a long way. It made clear to me that I was not just their robot going to fetch their shrimp and margarita. What’s more, when I did actually fetch their shrimp and margarita, my feet were a little bit lighter and the process was that much more enjoyable.Connection and light spread sort of a quantum wellness that keeps delivering in other ways that we may not even know.

What does this have to do with our children? A lot actually… they will see our example. When we take our babes to the grocery store and start a conversation with a checker, they will absorb the energy, lesson, lightness… or whatever you want to call it. Then they will learn the habit of humanizing all beings regardless of the place they serve in our lives and we serve in theirs.

Here are a few inspirational quotes on the subject by Eckhart Tolle and a link to the audible lecture. Thanks so much for making time to read this. I am so grateful to you and our community 🙂

Link to awesome lecture– http://amzn.to/2bsMQtz

Quotes that make you go hmmmm….

“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.”

“A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.”

“[Relationships] do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring out the pain and unhappiness that is already in you.”

“When listening to another person, don’t just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body.”

“Whenever you feel superior or inferior to anyone, that’s the ego in you.”

“If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will seek a relationship to cover up your unease.”

“Power over others is weakness disguised as strength.”

“Your friends either go through this inner transformation with you or drift out of your life. Some relationships dissolve, others deepen.”

“How wonderful to go beyond wanting and fearing in your relationships. Love does not want or fear anything.”