i saw god in a polish lady

In my last letter, I talked about my trip to Danakil Depression in Ethiopia and how I spent 3 days without internet, sleeping under the stars, and surrounded by incredible nature.

I told you about the connection I formed with the Israeli guy - eating, talking, eating, hiking, and even sleeping next to each other under the stars. But even more than that I made him cry cause of how much I reminded him of his father (his father’s origin is Iraqi). It taught me the power of connection and that it doesn’t matter where we are from - we are all one. 

But that wasn’t all that happened…

I also mentioned that I had more people traveling with me - in the car were a Polish lady, a Chinese man, and the Israeli guy.

I sat on the right and the polish lady in the middle. Our four-wheel-drive struggled through unpaved and bumpy roads. The ground was riddled with holes, and every bump reminded me that sitting still was impossible (let alone sleeping). Honestly, the whole ride I was concentrating on not getting sick…😅 But the ride wasn’t just physically challenging. Emotionally, I was being tested too.

During our drive, the Polish lady next to me wanted to take pictures of eeeeeeeverything. Every few minutes—what felt like 50x times over this 5-hour car ride—she leaned over me to take photos of the outside. Her camera would sometimes brush against me, and each time she leaned felt like an invasion of my privacy.

I felt my irritation growing inside me. After a few more pictures and videos, I got massively annoyed at this older Polish lady - and the funny thing is: I just met her! I was annoyed at somebody I didn’t at all - isn’t that fascinating?

I was contemplating whether I should say something, to ask her to stop. After all, I had very good reasons to (so I thought). But I decided not to. Not because I felt shy, or didn’t want to have a confrontation - I kept quiet because I remembered a quote by Ram Dass: "Everyone you meet is God in drag." “Ahhh, sooo” Ram Dass would always say when something would irritate him.

And so, I decided that this time I would try something different. Each time she leaned over me, I thought to myself:

"Ah, interesting. God wants to lean over me to take pictures."
"Oh, fascinating. God hasn’t finished taking pictures yet."
"Ah, there it is again. God needs just one more shot."

And slowly my perspective began to shift…What started as a mantra to manage my annoyance became something deeper. I began to see God in her—the more I embraced this perspective, the more I saw God.

By the end of the ride, my annoyance had less need to express itself. Instead, love came to the forefront. I looked at her not as the source of my irritation but as a reflection of God. And how could I ever resent God?

If God finds joy in making pictures of the Ethiopian desert, so be it. I mean how could you blame him? The view was breathtaking:

So then after the car ride, I went up to the Polish lady and we spoke - our conversation felt light, open, and human. She looked beautiful to me, cause what I saw was her being part of God.

This experience meant a lot to me because it taught me something powerful:

The resistance we feel toward others has nothing to do with them and everything to do with how we see them. When we shift our perspective, we open the door to compassion, connection, and love. See God in everybody and your compassion and love comes up naturally.

When we can recognize we are all connected through one source, there’s no separation. And by not separating we become one with everyone. And to my understanding, that’s what we all should strive for.

So, the next time you find yourself annoyed or irritated, remember: Everyone you meet is God in drag. And if you can see God in them, you will see God within yourself too.

That’s it for me now - I’m curious, how would you have reacted? Would you have gotten annoyed? Would you have said something? Let me know!

And also: I’m now offering private 1:1 ACT- Counselling. Together we will learn how to:

• rewire your brain from anxiety and shame + heal your repressed trauma

• create a meaningful life while accepting the pain that goes with it

• separate from thoughts & emotions instead of getting caught up in them

• create clarity on your value system to give you direction in your life

If that’s for you, reply to this E-mail with “ACT” and I get back to you. Don’t know what ACT is? I recently gave an 8-hour Workshop on ACT - I want to give you access for free to the 86-page course material here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10B8preWKk_ziqEEkGRfcQTWnK_6_OHpx/view?usp=sharing

Talk soon and remember: God is everywhere.

With love,

Heythem