In light of all that has happened over the past few months, we are finding ourselves in a divided nation. For many, this time has not only divided our nation, but it has also divided our friend groups and families. This has been an incredibly emotional time and it’s been tough.
With all the “sides” of our loved ones that we have seen, it can be difficult to forget and move on.
But what happens when you are starving, and you order a delicious pizza from your favorite pizza joint and it finally arrives and they’ve accidentally put olives on your pizza?
Sure, you may call and have them send you another one, but you may also just pick the olives off and enjoy the delicious pizza that satisfies you in so many ways. It satiates your hunger. It makes your mouth water with each delicious bite. It brings joy to your fingers as you pull apart and capture every bit of stringy cheese.
You enjoy the pizza that you have.
And while the pizza is cut into separate pieces, it is all a part of the same pizza pie. Different pieces of pizza are appealing to people for different reasons. Some like toastier cheese, some like more crust, some like more toppings but one piece is not better than the other. In fact, without all the other pieces, it would not be a pizza pie, it would simply be a slice and it would be on its own.
The same is true for us.
We are more alike than we are different. Just like a pizza, we are all made up of our own same ingredients: 2/3 water, blood, bones, muscles and cells. We are all a part of the human race. There is not one of us that is better than the other. We may appear a little different but we are all made of the same ingredients.
Recently, many people have blamed and shamed each other for their choices, their responses and their vote. As if the other person’s choice was a personal attack on them. A person’s opinion is always about their own feelings. It rarely, if ever, has anything to do with you. It has to do with their own worries, fears, and most often their own pain.
Can you pause and look at the pain or heartache the person you might have been shaming, or who has been shaming you, and see where their pain may have caused them to think or believe in a certain way?
It has nothing to do with you.
You are a separate slice of pizza and so are they and you are all living in the same pizza box. In fact, you can be amazing together.
Everyone has a right to be their own slice of pizza. Together we create a complete pie that may come together in a way that may be unexpected but always welcomed. Who knew ham and pineapple could be a great combination?!
Let’s drop the blame and shame game and start playing the same game.
We are more the same than we are different.
Rather than remaining separate from each other, think of this area causing division between you and your loved one as picking off the topping you might not like so you can focus on and enjoy all the ways this person you love so much fills you.
Let this one part of them be the olive. “Pick it off” or overlook it and offer them an olive branch instead.
We are more the same than we are different.
Want to experience a place beyond blame and shame and find this place within you that is filled with empowerment and joy?
Join me for this week’s meditation, Letting go of blame and shame, where we discover how we are more alike than we are different and ignite this energy within us that brings us together.
Enjoy your pizza and most importantly find new and delicious ways to enjoy each other.
Much love,
Erin
