Each Other’s Hope

We’ve got to be as clear-headed about
human beings as possible, because
we are still each other’s only hope.
- James Baldwin

Let’s talk about being clear-headed with each other.
Because at the end of the day,
we are each other’s only hope.

It doesn’t come easy for me—people (or hope).
I didn’t get the manual for good relationships.
Well, maybe I did, but the pages were ripped out
before I learned to read.

So, I watch people
who love generously.
I take notes.
I learn.

To be clear-headed, we first have to understand
how much we all need gentleness.
We have to keep each other’s souls safe.

But many of us don’t know how to do that.
Not for others,
and not for ourselves.
Because we can only give
what’s in us to give.

So I’ve been working on creating a safe place
inside my own heart where I can offer others
my light without also offering my pain.

That’s one of the ways I stay clear-headed.
But there are so many ways we take care of each other.
We do it with our essence, our beingness,
the way we hold each other’s stories in our hearts.

But it doesn’t always look like closeness or connection.

Sometimes the kindest thing is to step away
and mend my own heart.

Sometimes I love you best by staying quiet,
and letting you find your own way.

Sometimes I can only manage to save myself,
because my magic has gone threadbare.
And losing your magic
is a dangerous thing.

So yes—let’s take care of each other.
Let’s create safety instead of pain.
Soft landings instead of sharp edges.

But first, let’s clean up our own pain,
so we stop passing it around to each other
like a wound that never heals.

We need to start by flowing inward
to the root of all things—
and making good with ourselves.

It’s not about fighting what’s there,
not about telling ourselves we’re wrong,
wrestling with the things we find,
but acknowledging and honoring it instead.

Because every part of us,
every feeling, every experience,
has a place in our life.
We just have to find it,
and that takes time.

So to be clear-headed about other people,
well, it means being clear-headed about ourselves first.
Love flows so much easier when we achieve that.

Writing Prompt:

Where in your life do you need to get clear-headed before you can offer love safely? How can tending to your own healing make space for gentler, safer connection with others?