What are the encounters that make you feel glad to be alive?

…”The most shining moments in one's life - don’t they all revolve around human encounters? To see and be seen? Isn’t it in our encounters with others that we become ourselves? That it is in those very moments that life touches our heart and soul…”

That is how Organizational Psychologist Lars Svedberg begins one of the first chapters of his book “Group Psychology”.

That section sunk deep into my heart and settled there.

What is a meaningful encounter?

It could be anything from loud laughter and jokes, a quiet being together, to a shy smile combined with a kind gesture.

How do you feel when someone allows you to see them?

Truly, deeply, without any facades or defenses. To let you have a glimpse of something authentic and beautiful, but perhaps fragile, inside of them?

How do you feel when someone's presence makes you feel safe and you feel like that person can see into the core of your very being?

Maybe that frightens you. I know that to some extent that sometimes frightens me too.

Because this is our most authentic self.

If we've been hurt in the past - and most of us have, we might hesitate to show these authentic sides of ourselves.

But an encounter that makes you feel glad to be alive doesn't necessarily need to expose that vulnerability.

What those encounters have in common, I think, is that they all touch the joy that already exists in you to wake up and come forth.

It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture or a big event. It can be something as small as a simple question asked with pure intention. A look, or a smile.

I don’t know about you but those moments are the ones that make me feel glad to be alive.

Actively look for these situations.

Actively create them.

All humans deserve to be seen and encountered with openness and kindness.

How can you contribute to making someone feel that way today if it would merely be through the smallest of acts? Love, Sara