Returning to Center
There are moments in life when it feels as though everything around us is pulling us away from ourselves.
Sometimes it's a difficult conversation. Sometimes it's grief. Sometimes it's caring for someone we love. Sometimes it's criticism, disappointment, or simply the weight of trying to carry more than we ever imagined we could.
This season has offered me a little of all of those.
Recently, someone shared something with me that touched my heart. He said that one of the greatest gifts I had ever given him was reminding him how to return to his center. I've thought about those words ever since.
Because I don't think our goal is to become people who are never shaken. I think our goal is to become people who know how to come home to ourselves again and again.
That's where our peace lives. That's where our wisdom waits.
That's where Love has been all along.
One of the practices that has helped me through challenging seasons comes from both my Unity journey and the work I've done through the Mankind Project. When life becomes intense, I picture myself standing behind a clear, strong shield. Every harsh word, every criticism, every projection, every misunderstanding simply strikes the shield and falls harmlessly to the ground. The shield doesn't throw anything back. It doesn't need to. It simply allows me to remain present, grounded, and open.
I've learned that not every opinion belongs to me. Not every accusation is mine to carry. Not every emotion in the room is mine to absorb.
Many years ago, I read The Four Agreements, and one teaching has remained with me ever since: don't take anything personally. That's much easier to say than to live. But when I remember that people are often speaking from their own experiences, fears, disappointments, and hopes, it becomes easier to respond with compassion instead of defensiveness.
That doesn't mean we become doormats.
It doesn't mean we stop having healthy boundaries.
It simply means we stop allowing someone else's storm to become our own.
Returning to center isn't about escaping life. It's about remembering who we are in the middle of life.
For me, that center is always found in Love.
Not sentimental love. Not agreement. Not approval.
The deeper Love that reminds me there is something greater than my fears, my ego, my need to be right, or my desire to defend myself.
It's the quiet place where I remember that I am a spiritual being having a human
experience. It's the place where I can pause before reacting.
Where I can choose understanding over judgment.
Compassion over resentment. Curiosity over assumption.
Grace over fear.
Every one of us will encounter moments this week that invite us away from our center. Someone may disappoint us. A plan may fall apart. We may hear words we wish had never been spoken. We may even discover emotions within ourselves that surprise us. When that happens, perhaps the invitation is not to fight harder. Perhaps it's simply to come home.
Take a breath. Place your hand over your heart.
Remember who you are.
And choose, once again, to return to the place where peace is stronger than fear and Love is stronger than anything that would pull you away from your highest self.
Because no matter what life places before us, we always have the freedom to return to center.
And I have found that every time I do, Love is already there, waiting.
Join us this Sunday as Rev. Raamesie Umandavi shares her message love and light in a way that only she can.
Love and blessings, Reverend Dr. Bobby Kyser
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