I constantly go to the hardware store looking for apples! Why do I expect to get soothing support from those people that are unable to provide a compassionate ear, and instead I receive critical and judgmental verbal abuse. Because that may be an old unconscious pattern that doesn’t serve me well anymore.
Choosing who we call for loving support and kindness is essential in our spiritual growth. Who and what we share with other’s should be done with the utmost discretion. When bearing our heart and soul to others it is imperative that they are filled with open-mindedness, understanding, compassion and an objective perspective. When opening up to others it is also helpful if they have walked in similar shoes as you have and can identify similar feelings and thoughts. When you have empathetic support it creates an opening for healing and a discovery of new tools to walk through challenges with grace and connection.
Choosing to share with other’s that have had similar experiences has a healing and medicinal effect like nothing I have ever experienced. If you are going through a marriage, divorce, birth of a baby, or the death of a loved one it helps to flock around those who have walked before you. Sharing experiences with those people that “just don’t get it” can leave you feeling flat, empty, and probably very lonely.
A good example of going to the hardware store for apples is when I call family members or friends for support about my special needs child. They just don’t get it. How could they. They leave me with a residue of feeling horrible about myself and my parenting. But when I go to a support group or talk to a mother who has a similar child as mine it is like the most amazing ointment on my wounds of raising such a child.
It is essential to surround yourself with natural uplifters. Always go where the love, peace, and acceptance is. Try to avoid people that are negative, critical, and naysayers.In other words keep your nose out of a beehive, and into a beautiful flower of sweet fragrance, love, and beauty. Again be cautious of who you bear your soul too. Your essence is to important to be stomped on or negated. Surround yourself with joyous, kind, and delightful people and the sweetness will ripple out into the universe and your soul will be healed.

Author's Bio: 

Susan Foxley is a certified life coach, yoga teacher, and bodyworker and currently resides in Santa Monica, California. Over the last eighteen years she has studied and taught in India and the United States. Her love of what she does spills out in all of her teachings. Find out more about Susan Foxley at www.susanfoxleyyoga.com.