A People Mover and a Wounded Feeler

I recently set my sights on a particular identity I want to claim for myself: I want to be a People Mover! A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend who shared comments on how much I move her; this email prompted me to recognize an overwhelming sense of call to this particular mission. I want to be a People Mover! Indeed, this is something I find quite rewarding. I love to share words that touch people--that move them. Perhaps this is simply because I, myself, love to be moved. Affected. To move someone is to touch them emotionally in some way. I've always been a tactile person--yet, I never recognized how that also stretches out into the emotional realm for me. If I can move you, I can know that I am reaching out and touching you...making a human connection.

My sense of calling as a People Mover has been reinforced throughout the past year, particularly through the ways in which I have found myself serving as a source of inspiration for many friends, loved ones, and acquaintances by the success of my endeavors on my fitness journey. This has been an amazing gift for me--knowing that all my hard work, focus, discipline, and success have not only brought about life-changing results for me, but they also extend out beyond me in such a way that others can somehow share in the fruits of my labors. As a People Mover, I see how the choices I make in my own life help me to serve as a cheerleader for others as I inspire them to join me along the way on this amazing journey of life. What a remarkable gift and an incredible honor this has been. While I am excited to share my passion with others, I am also quite humbled.

Earlier this week, I encountered a lovely quote from one of my favorite spiritual sages:

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand."
~Henri Nouwen

Ah, yes, that sounds like Nouwen...the "Wounded Healer" himself. In one of his most well-known books, The Wounded Healer, Nouwen shares this wisdom: "In our own woundedness we can become a source of life for others."

Nouwen was a Wounded Healer. This new inspiration by his words instantly moved me to claim another new identity for myself: I want to be a Wounded Feeler! As I encountered this new (to me) quote by Nouwen, I recognized myself in the words...my longing to willingly take on the pain of others, to share their pain and touch their wounds with a warm and tender hand. I saw myself in these words so clearly because I had just days prior expressed my heart-felt love to a friend using amazingly similar words. Just as I wish to reach out and touch others--make a human connection--through attempting to move them, I also wish to do so by reaching out and touching them through standing in solidarity with them in their moments of pain, or grief, or heartache....or any other human emotion, really. Sure, I will happily share in your joy, as well! But, truly, I find that it's the willingness to be fully present with another human being in those places in which they are the most vulnerable, the most delicate, the most in need of feeling the touch of grace, to be the most meaningfully intimate and rewarding experiences in life. It is an honor to be invited into such places. And a blessing for me when someone welcomes my own tears on their behalf. I suppose it's probably the most personal gift I could offer another human being. Actually, this reminds me of another amazing quote I encountered today:

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love."
~Washington Irving

Ultimately, I realize that my goals of becoming a People Mover and a Wounded Feeler are also a reflection of entering into a period in my life in which I am freely loving myself in a much more all-encompassing way than I've done so before. It is this genuine love of self, and my awareness of the ways in which God wants to use me to touch the world that allow me to fully embrace this calling. In turn, I am finding my life to be infused with a refreshingly new sense of passion and energy as I feel more alive than ever and enthusiastic about my future.

Of course, I wouldn't know how to be a People Mover and a Wounded Feeler without having first been touched by others who reflect these particular gifts. My heart is grateful to the many people in my life who have helped reveal these insights through their own willingness to share themselves with me. Thank you for moving me...and for feeling me.