Now that we are back in the swing of things, some of us are reengaging with others like never before. Others are taking it a bit slowly. Our Austin-based Resonance Repatterning expert, Mary Schneider, offers insight on moving forward with others.

WELCOME BACK

What an amazing night it was…I went to an actual party, yet I haven’t been out again quite yet. I am being gentle with myself. A therapist wisely counseled me to take it easy and not over-expose myself too quickly. Not due to the pandemic, mind you, but in order to not end up with a “hangover” from too much socializing too hastily. Many people have made the same decision.

What has happened in this post-Covid era is slowly becoming a trend. People spent an inordinate amount of time, often alone, in their homes for the past eighteen months. This we know. Many of us developed a curiosity about what society would look like after the pandemic. Welcome. Now we are beginning to get a taste of it. Of course, many people and their families lost loved ones in these last eighteen months. We send them all love, light, healing, and blessings. We wish you peace.

Growing re-connectedness. We have coined a new term here. When you make a new friend, there is a choice. A choice to retreat to old ways of being or maybe, try something new. Covid and its subsequent isolation have provided us with a tabula rasa if you will (the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content; therefore, all knowledge comes from experience or perception). Interacting with selective amounts of people allows us to polish up our communication skills. We are also compelled to go deeper, as opposed to hanging out in what is familiar.

It may just be that we have no desire to do this going deeper-thing. And, being obliged to feel perhaps uncomfortable. There is a wonderful growth opportunity here, though–one of the silver linings of the pandemic. We are invited to try styles of relating to which we may be unaccustomed. Possibly we could be more open. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, we might be more quiet. Being in the same group of people for lengthy periods can magnify our mistakes. Yet, we see that despite our mistakes, we are still loved. We can heal them. I see increased self-acceptance leading to treating oneself more gently, and therefore, intimacy can improve.

ELECT TO CONNECT

Of course, with old friends, we can attribute our newfound relationship conduct to being isolated for so long. Over time as we move back out into society, the improved communication patterns we developed can positively affect all our relationships. We begin to reap the benefits of intimacy as a shared outcome. Intimacy (think of into-me-see) is a process where people know one another on a deep level. Many married couples have this, and best friends can, as well. It depends upon the basis of the relationship. The presence of true intimacy is a gift of divine proportion and is to be treasured. This intimacy requires a certain amount of vulnerability–authenticity coupled with the heart. The heart confers the capacity to express our feelings and state our needs.

Going back out into the world, we find our relationships are transforming. True intimacy allows us to talk about how we feel without remorse. It also allows us to express our needs with the expectation they will be met making us feel loved deeply. The deeper the intimacy, the greater the love. Intimacy and love increase exponentially. Self-love and self-acceptance are present, and we recognize we are beloved.

Ultimately, this agreement we made to engage in a quarantine lifestyle opens us to uncharted territory residing within us that we have always wanted to access. If we give ourselves this gift of self-love, we will have more to come back to when the pandemic is finally truly over. Covid-19 gave some of us a more authentic life.

Most importantly, we took the opportunity we were given and made the most of it. Lemons can always become lemonade. It turns the silver lining into pure gold, allowing us to see that we can love ourselves and love others as ourselves. We can see their mistakes, and we can let them go.