Compatibilidad con sistemas MEMS

Everyone wants, and needs, friends—especially close friends. You can never say that you truly just want to be left alone, that you don’t want or need to have any close friends. It’s a Core Desire for human beings to interact with others—to like and be liked, to love and be loved. Close friends permit you to open up and have fun. They like and accept all the things that make you you—the good, the bad, and the ugly. True friendship allows you to feel safe with another person, to be accepted by others—in spite of the things you do wrong and in spite of your idiosyncrasies.

Meaningful interaction with others is vital to your spiritual and physi- cal well-being. We can’t choose whether we need—or want—true friends, because we are simply not built that way. Few things in life are more pre- cious than the close friends who share your interests, passions, concerns, needs, hopes, and fears. Ideally, one of these close friends becomes your mate for life.

When I was a child I had one friend, Teddy Begay, a Navajo boy. He was my best friend, and he often defended me. When I left the reservation, I didn’t see Teddy again until many years later.

When I was forty, I reconnected with him, and we hit it off as if no time had passed at all. We talked about becoming blood brothers, an old

“One blessing of friends is that you can afford to be stupid with them.”

Indian tradition. I asked him if the Navajos still did such things. Teddy checked with an old medicine man he knew and reported back that the cer- emony hadn’t been done in over a hundred years. The medicine man had never performed the ceremony but had been taught how many years earlier. Teddy and I asked the medicine man to perform the ceremony for us.

The ceremony was held in a hogan, a large mud hut with a door open- ing to the east, dirt floors, and a hole in the ceiling for smoke from the open fire to escape. Navajos came from miles around to participate because they wanted to see this unusual ceremony. The hogan was filled to capacity, with about twenty people sitting on sheepskins around its perimeter. The ceremony was done in the Navajo language, so Teddy translated for me. The medicine man built a fire in the center of the hogan and then chanted, prayed, counseled us, drew pictures in the dirt floor, and gave us things to eat and drink. In his prayer, he asked the Great Spirit to forgive him because he could not remember all of the ceremony, asking for it to be accepted. At one point the medicine man wept, and said that he’d never seen such love shown between a bilagona and a Navajo. At specific cer- emonial intervals, each person in the hogan was given a chance to speak. Several guests apologized for the way I had been treated as a young boy.

The ceremony was a wonderful experience, lasting about thirteen hours without a stop. Teddy and I laughed when we wondered how long it would have taken had the medicine man remembered the entire ceremony.

I came away from this experience with a deep, abiding love for my new blood brother, as well as for the Navajo nation, particularly those in atten- dance. Teddy’s mother, who speaks no English, is now my mother, too. After the ceremony I gave my new Navajo mother a hug and she hugged me back, which was unusual since Navajos of her generation didn’t show affection by hugging. She smiled and called me shiyazhi (shi-yaw-zhee), “my son,” and I called her shima (shih-MAR), my mother. I was given a special shawl, allowing me entrance to Navajo ceremonies or meetings.

The more friendships you have, the more open interactions you will have with others, and the more your life will come together. Your fam- ily life will improve, your self-image will be enhanced, and you’ll enjoy doing what it takes when you’re with friends. With true friends, you can be yourself.

With close friends, you interact at a heartfelt level. When it comes to your friends, their feelings and needs are just as important to you as yours are to them. They care and worry about you, and you do

“What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies.”

the same for them. As you treat others this way, you experience profound happiness and contentment. With friends at your side, you never have to face the world alone.

T

o create closeness and intimacy with other people—male or female, young or old, family or friends—apply the following three rules in any circumstance.

1. Be willing to trust that others will not hurt you.

You must take the risk of being let down, ignored, manipulated, judged, or hurt. Even if it is risky, share your real feelings. The closer you are with someone, the more of you they can see. When you are close to someone’s heart, or they to yours, you can see each other’s concerns more easily. This can be risky when you don’t know what they will do with what they see. That is where trust comes in.

Maybe you think that to depend on friends is a sign of weakness, but that’s not true. By refusing to open up and share, you may be considered unapproachable or unfriendly—keeping you isolated with your feelings because you can’t, or won’t, let others into your life. People may know about your accomplishments and your possessions, but do they know about you?

How can we bear one another’s burdens if we don’t know what they are? Often we hold back from sharing ourselves because we don’t want to impose, to feel weak or needy, or we don’t trust that anything will change. Many people would like to have someone to help them and care about them but are afraid they will no longer be accepted or liked if they reveal their soul. The fear of risk shuts them down or closes them up, leaving their feelings locked inside.

What we often fail to realize is that the people who get to see all of you, love and admire you all the more. They empathize; they want to reach out to you and reassure you that you are liked or loved even more than before. So open your heart, even at the risk of getting hurt. The world is full of wonderful people just trying to make a happy life for themselves and their families. Most people have something positive to offer you, even if it is just a smile or a nod of understanding. Don’t keep your heart hid- den—it is far more rewarding to be open and vulnerable. You wouldn’t stop cooking and enjoying food because of the very small chance that you might get burned, would you?

When someone shares something with you that is important, painful, or precious to them, try not to outdo them with your experiences. Rather,

stay in the moment with their feelings, and respect them for taking the risk of sharing with you, creating a trust—the foundation on which all relation- ships are built.

2. Stop playing games.

Young men and women often wear masks and play social games because they don’t know how to be open and honest—or they choose not to be. Men, for example, might exaggerate their incomes, plan “chance” meetings with women, and say the craziest things to try to get women to like them, instead of just being real.

Just be yourself. Don’t feel that you have to put your best foot forward all the time. If you would like to meet someone, let him or her know. If you would like them not to call you again, say so. If something offends you, speak up. If your feelings have been hurt, be open about it. Don’t pretend that things are all right when they aren’t. Playing games only creates an environment of distrust, suspicion, and doubt. It is a far better use of your time to be honest, upfront, and sincere.

3. Be open and honest at all times, using tact and diplomacy whenever possible.

If you have to choose between hiding your feelings and being totally open, honest, and candid, always choose the latter. When you stuff your feelings, you only hurt yourself and others. When you guess about what other people are thinking, you’re going to assume the worst most of the time—but you’ll also be wrong most of the time. Rather than guess, ask.

If you’ll do these three things in all your relationships, you’ll succeed at high levels. You also need to encourage others to do the same with you in order to create an environment where people can feel safe with you. Don’t make them guess what you are feeling. By allowing yourself to be true, you’ll allow others to be open, honest, and safe with you, and then they can stop playing games around you.

Many years ago, one of my mentors taught me that sometimes the most painful messages are also the most beneficial. He was about twenty years my senior and also a very wise man. One day I did something unac- ceptable to him, and he gave me some feedback. He reached over, put his hand on my forearm, and said, “I’m going to tell you something that will hurt your feelings, but I’m going to do it because I love you, and I think you need to hear it. Is that okay with you?”

I said, “Go ahead.”

What he told me did hurt my feelings, but I needed to be told. I was embarrassed, but he made me feel that I was okay anyway. I knew he cared about me and was teaching me by being open and honest.

Being open and honest can be risky, but it’s worth it. If your intent is to help, not to hurt others, then make that clear to them. Most of the time people won’t take offense, especially if you get their permission first, as my mentor did with me.

Where can you find people to befriend? Start looking in your home, neighborhood, and place of work—the places where you spend most of your time. You can create fulfilling social situations by involving yourself in your church, taking people out to lunch, playing golf, or going to a movie. You can go to concerts, the theater, auto races, seminars, flea mar- kets, auctions, museums, and sporting events. The list is endless, limited only by your tastes and interests. To make new friends, you must create situations in which you’re going to visit and share feelings, life stories, and opinions with them.

In document Dispositivos de obtención de energía a partir de vibraciones ambientales (página 52-57)