Unlocking: a poem about belonging, and how to get there

Unlocking

If you are fortunate, some people will come into your life who can inspire you towards the most magnificent version of yourself.

They will fit like a key into your lock. You will confidently know that you belong together.

They will touch your heart so deeply that your eyes leak tears of relief, grief, laughter, upset, and gratitude. 

They will make it safe for you to inhabit your own experience, and express your raw self without holding back. They will insist that you keep yourself intact.

They will yearn to stay connected with you, no matter what. People who, when they look into your eyes, forget how to look away.

They will burnish your brilliant parts, and hold them up for you to admire. They will co-host your celebrations. 

They will help you carefully hold your broken parts in place while you nurse wounds back to wholeness. 

They will lean in when you mistrust them, and embrace you. They will welcome you when you confront them. Their steadiness will allow you to express your fragility in a way that you could never before dare risk.

Reciprocally, your loving engagement will give to them this same nourishing attention. In your act of feeding them what they simultaneously need, you also derive gratification

To cultivate this good fortune, you will first practice giving all of these things to yourself, and let this self care be vulnerably revealed, so that their inquiring key can find its way into your exposed lock.

—Basin Branch