As we go through life we make friends, break friends, lose friends and keep friends. At some-point though we always have to say goodbye. The emotional strength of that goodbye seems to be dependent on the depth of connection with that particular person, along with the length of time it will be before seeing that person again. That is of course if you even know that you will see them again?
I have been lucky enough to have travelled and lived for varying lengths of time in different countries over the last 8 years and as such, have said many goodbyes. After a number of goodbyes, I started to become numb to the emotions of saying goodbye. It’s not that I was becoming heartless, I just knew that there was no need to get upset about it.
As I was saying goodbye, I would take that opportunity to reflect on each relationship in terms of all the good points that it brought. Instead of looking into the future without this person, I would look to the past with this person. In a way, I quickly created an internal memory flicker pad of all the positive highlights and showed gratitude for everything up until that point. If I was to meet this person again in the future I would know it was meant to happen.
It can be more difficult if it is a romantic relationship, a subject I don’t want to go into depth here in these pages. However, if you can hold onto the good and realise the powerful lessons learnt, along with the understanding that this relationship took its rightful path, then you should be able to move on positively.
It is our attachment to this person that ultimately causes us to grieve their disappearance. Yes, it is sad to no longer have a certain person in your life, or to be far away from a certain person, wishing you were together more frequently, or even all the time; but in order to maintain the positive flow of life and to harness the power to move forward, we must be grateful for every interaction we have and every moment of time we have together with others. Good bye, is GOOD, lets not emphasize the BYE, but keep hold of that GOOD.
So here’s to friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances and random strangers on the bus, to whom I have met and said good-bye. Â Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to say Good Bye.
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