Just Like Me

You never know.  

You never know when you are going to hear something that wakes you up, that gets your attention, that takes away your breath.

I was minding my own business, sitting in one of my 12 Step meetings, Saturday morning.  

I love it there; more than anywhere on earth, I would choose to sit in a 12 Step meeting.  

Much to say about that; I’ll save it for another blog.

Suffice to say, there I remember.

Suffice to say, there I hear Truth.

But the meeting was almost over, and I felt done.  My thoughts were floating toward after-the-meeting tea (our code name for shared breakfast whose main ingredient is bacon) with my dear friend, Babs.

I was fading out a bit, as the prospect of bacon loomed, closer, larger.

Sue was talking.  She’s lovely and I respect her dearly.  Nevertheless, I was listening with one-and-three-quarters percent of my hearing capacity.

And then I heard It.

Then I heard the Truth.

In the midst of her sharing, Sue was saying:

“…….so terribly easy to think people are assholes………..at work………meeting with my boss…….such a loser…….”

I was in and out, almost listening, ready to sprint when the meeting ends, out the door, to be first in line for BACON.

Back to Sue:

 “…noticing myself thinking my boss was a such major asshole.  And I remembered to add, saying to myself, he’s an asshole, JUST LIKE ME!

He’s an asshole, JUST LIKE ME.”

I was riveted awake, anticipatory bacon stripped from my consciousness.

I sat upright, alive again.

Sue continued:

“…..and when I find myself mentally praising somebody, oh, she is so wonderful, so competent, look at her….whenever I notice that, I drop in the phrase, JUST LIKE ME.”

Just like me.  

I love this.

It’s so profoundly easy to feel like the only one. 

The unique, the unusual, the profoundly isolated, the victimized.

Me, all alone.

This is simply

Not

True.

We are in it together.  

We are one.

One breath, shared.

One heartbeat, divided.

One consciousness, alive.

I think of metta meditation.

Lovingkindness.

From the I, always starting with self.

To the You,

And

Then

The

We.

Please enjoy my offering of this metta meditation.  Apologies for my chirping computer in the background.

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