Who is in your cloud?

"So, what do you do when you feel that you are ALWAYS in the minority?", asked a friend to me in today morning. "How do you react when what you say and feel seems to be different from what others say and feel?", she asked.

I looked back at her. My answer was "Self compassion". From where I am standing that seems to be the only way to deal with this. I have felt a part of such minority for a really long time. I guess many of us have. We try to fit in, adjust, make amends, say sorry and be like others. The urge to be "we" is strong. Overpowering. But sooner or later, for some of us, the "me" will rebel. It will grow stronger and keep asking - a voice that you can't really quiet down. But accepting and proclaiming our difference in perception brings the fear of being an outcast- separate from the herd. And separation is death, shouts another voice encoded within for survival.

Hence, self compassion. To love oneself without any comparison or judgement. Especially when you feel absolutely by yourself and without a hand to hold on to.

But, self compassion can be tiring. It requires rejuvenation. So, a more practical option is to also search for those who "connect" to you. Those soul warriors are few but they are out there. They might not have the same troubles as you have but they have suffered and they will understand what you mean when you say that clearing your emotional debris is no cake-walk. Their bag of worries and their baggage of past might be different but their path and their way of walking on it is the same as yours.

Then, when they talk to you, healing happens.

Today, the same friend who asked me questions about being in the minority mentioned Jeff Brown and I chanced upon his quotes. And I could connect to it. Like a child who sees one sea shell on the shore and then another ...and then one more, I began to read what he said. I began to fill my pockets with these lovely shells till my pockets bulged.

So, create a cloud. Put yourself in it. Put all those who connect to you in it too. They could be friends or colleagues. Even authors. Anyone whose reflections of their journey resonate with you. And even though your cloud might be small, you would feel that you are not alone. Let them go when you no longer connect to them. Let yourself go find another cloud if you dont connect with them. After all, clouds have no fixed boundaries. And neither have you.

So, Jeff Brown - welcome to my cloud. I am not alone, and neither are you..