The Power of Feeling Seen

The greatest of all traumas can be healed when a person simply feels seen. Jeffrey had the ability to really see people. It was like a superpower. The reality of life is that it’s hard to dislike someone when you can really see them. Maybe that was why he never really disliked anyone. He was a love-being, but maybe he was just a seer and hence could not help but love all those around him.

I spent most of my childhood feeling unseen and misunderstood. It wasn’t my parents’ fault. They were too simple to understand what I was all about. Poet, writer, playwright, all this was beyond them. I was too sensitive. Too open. Too vulnerable. Too much.

It was Jeffrey who saw me first. I was in my thirties then. A lot of trauma had been accumulated from having felt unseen most of my life. But his love for me reflected back to me the divine within me. It became the first time I glimpsed the divine within myself. It helped me fall in love with myself. His acceptance of me made it easier for me to accept myself. “Your vulnerability is so beautiful,” he would always say to me. “It’s rare. Don’t lose it.”

Hearing that was rare for me. But when I heard it enough times from him, I was able to accept it. Accepting it meant no longer walking about the world with a mask on. Not having a mask on meant that I started attracting those who were drawn to my true nature and my talents. And thus my life began.

All because one man saw me.

From the Series: Love Letters to my Dearest Departed Friend.