Recently I went on a trip to London which included a lot of traveling on the London Underground. Besides the difficulties of finding my way on the underground, with all the different directions and colours, I had an extra challenge which was my suitcase: although it was a small suitcase, I couldn’t carry it up or down the stairs due to a physical condition I was experiencing. I had no other choice other than to ask for help as I needed people to help me carry my suitcase up and down the stairways. In case you have never travelled on the London Underground… believe me there are a lot of stairs. I decided to make it simple – every first man I saw, I would ask for help.
It was beautiful that every time I needed someone to help me, there was a man passing by who was very willing to carry my suitcase up or down the stairs.
Then on my way back at the end of the day when it was darker and I was feeling tired after an intense but very beautiful day, I was standing with my suitcase needing to get downstairs to my platform but there was nobody around to help me. I was waiting patiently but nobody showed up. Then after about 5 or 10 minutes standing there alone (which didn’t feel so comfortable) some people came from behind, not just one, but eight men of African origin, all walking in a way that appeared very macho and aggressive and, to me, they felt like a gang. None of them seemed to have any plan to start smiling and, by all appearances, they looked like tough guys.
“Wow” was what came up… I felt some tension rising up in me! I heard myself saying to myself; “Sylvia, you will do what you did all day, you will ask the first man you meet for support. You won’t avoid this gang now; they are your fellow brothers. It is like discrimination not to ask. You will not play this game; you will ask one of these men for support. You won’t go into fear and you will stay very present and just be you.”
In the front of the gang walking up the steps was what appeared to be gang leader. He looked the most macho and for sure, it felt like he did not plan to smile. All the others followed him. So I made the step and asked: “Sorry sir, can I ask you something? Can you bring my suitcase downstairs because…” and before I was able to finish, I felt aggression coming up towards me and there was an attitude that indicated he wouldn’t do that for me because that was not cool, especially in front of the other gang members. He started to shake his head with a “No” and I felt the gang coming closer and there I stood… I felt I was about to go into contraction from fear, but I chose to stay with me.
Suddenly something beautiful happened. I could clearly feel that this man was simply reacting from a carried hurt, a hurt that as a humanity we are all responsible for. The hurt of the discriminations of the past. I saw and felt the image of slavery, how he was thinking that I, as a white woman, thought that it was normal to ask a black man to carry her stuff. As if he was less.
I felt the part I, and everyone else had played, when the unexpressed truth of what we did as a collective – by not speaking out and condemning slavery – and how that has hurt our brothers and ourselves equally so. I felt very touched feeling all of this, accepting that this is what we have all created and understanding that it will take all of us to heal this hurt. All this awareness happened in a few seconds.
And from that awareness I looked at him and said “It is because I cannot carry the suitcase easily with my physical limitation, so it would be great if you can support me here with my suitcase.”
I could feel the aggression in his body melting away; not because of what I was saying, but from the true place I was saying it from. There was this inner feeling of deep respect for this man. I had truly connected with him and the beauty that he naturally is. I felt very humbled and I felt only deep love for all these beautiful men, and I could feel how this particular man kind of ‘radar scanned’ me on the energetic quality I was coming with. I could feel that he was touched by the fact that I had no reaction towards his imposing aggression towards me. He could feel my equalness and non-judgment. For me it was just about connecting and opening my heart wide. In a second his behaviour totally changed.
He looked at me, nodded his head confirming he would do it: no words were needed, the nodding of his head while looking straight at me was so beautiful, all was in his eyes – the trust, the understanding, the connection, the commitment and by that the true support.
He suddenly felt like my best friend who would do anything for me. He carried my suitcase down, and the others followed close. You could clearly see that they were impressed that he had changed his mind. Coming down he just gave me the suitcase, no words, but Wow there was no need for words… ALL was ‘said’.
I have learned so much from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. I have learnt that life is not all about me, my stories or my needs. That it is about truly starting to care for myself and others: to make life about everyone and not about fulfilling my needs… to feel the huge love and wisdom in me and to connect with the same essence in others. In doing so I have noticed I am reawakening a deeper understanding for myself and others. We all carry stories, we all carry hurts and we have created all of them. No one is more, or less, responsible.
No matter our skin color, religion, nationality or gender, we are all equal Sons of God re-turning to the love we all come from. It begins with holding ourselves in the love and care again for each other, and instead of judging, to be more understanding and loving towards ourselves, and others. When we start with expressing true love and acceptance of everyone we meet, then we can truly connect with them. Only then will we return to a true and harmonious way of being.
By Sylvia Brinkman, people manager and practitioner (esoteric healing modalities), Amstelveen
Further Reading:
Refugees
Seeking Connection and True Relationships
Accepting all of you
478 Comments
A deep connection between two people and the ripple effect for the others in the group.
‘We all carry stories, we all carry hurts and we have created all of them. No one is more, or less, responsible.’
This is what makes us equal in physicality and equal in our divineness as we all come from God .
This is amazing!! I love coming back to reading this. The power of love erases judgement, prejudice and brings us back to we’re all equal and why wouldn’t we support another because we can?
Everything is felt before it is seen, heard or touched. Energetic communication flows faster than anything physical and we are great readers of it all. Awareness takes milliseconds to reveal the truth, all we have to do is observe but it’s easier said than done, many of us are conditioned from the moment we take our first breath into perceiving life in a certain way and this is what clouds our ability to understand our awareness. Anybody could have been offended by the aggressive response, but through understanding the energy underneath it all we are able to discern and respond accordingly.
This is such an incredibly inspiring example of what can happen when judgement is replaced by true love and acceptance. I can feel that by you holding yourself in the love that you are, everything else that was not love, dissolved, as there was no space for it. What a beautifully healing moment for everyone concerned and an inspiration for me as I take myself out into my day.
Beautiful how you aligned with this fellow brother, not going into fear or outer appearances.
It is lovely how when we are open to the support of others it is often there, even if it is not in the way we thought it would come.
Magic happens when we connect to another in equalness.
“Suddenly something beautiful happened” A beautiful opportunity you offered to each one of those men that there is power in being sensitive with another, whoever they are.
And also, that healing is not something that needs to take place in a clinic or practice room but it can happen in mere seconds in any encounter and any place.
Absolutely and the more we open up to others the more we allow for healing to happen.
The games of betterment in our social status, colour or origins is what keeps us from getting to know what is truly on offer from us all. Seeing beyond the form and allowing the true essence to shine is a gift to us all in our daily interactions.
beautiful Sylvia and such a deep reminder of how we all carry the same essence and the deep healing that takes place when we are met in this essence, no matter how much protection there may be.
I love this blog Sylvia, there is a joy every time I read it. The power of true connection, non-judgement and understanding are a powerful mix and when standing in front of it, its melting. You may well have changed something in this young man forever, he got to feel and trust another human being that he did not know.
Yes, I love this blog, it touches me every time as you no doubt did with your love in this scenario.
I love reading this blog. The idea of being alone on a platform at night with a group of men is not one most women would want to experience. Feeling and understanding where other people are at is such a gift to humanity and brings us back to oneness instead of us all going into our separate reactions and hurts.
Just beautiful Sylvia. How you changed the whole scenery by practicing love, observation and understanding.
So beautiful to read Sylvia, by staying connected to your body you were able to connect to another human being with true understanding love and equality, reflecting to the other the love that resides within. Indeed a magic moment.
Thank you Sylvia this brings the space of who we are and what we are capable of bringing – right through all the ideals and beliefs that we might hold, that keep us away from love, loving eachother, respecting eachother, living in brotherhood with eachother and working together. This example reveals all of this so beautifully.
This is definitely a wow moment Sylvia; a life-changing life lesson on the London Underground. And it is so very clear that if you had gone into judgment the outcome would have been very different and all of you would have missed out on this moment of potential change.
A beautiful example of supporting another to not carry their burdens of hurt.
” We all carry stories, we all carry hurts and we have created all of them. No one is more, or less, responsible. ”
This is very true, challenge is to let go of the protection of the personal hurts, then the realisation of responsibility will drop in.
A wise beautiful woman named Sandra told me recently that ‘people love to support others’ and I had never really thought of it like that. I have always been there to support others but found it difficult to ask for myself – until that day that is.
Beautiful Sylvia all those discriminatory acts can all be eliminated by connecting to your essence. It’s a classic parable that will stand the test of time with man.