S1, Ep.14 | Boundaries are Powerful

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Boundaries are Powerful</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, I had the pleasure yesterday of having tea and talking with a friend I had not seen in over a year. We hadn’t spoken for a while because she had a bad case of COVID, and needed to recover and then make changes in her life with time and space to learn the new things she needed for better boundaries.  As we chatted, we talked about heavy things, we laughed and celebrated life and learning and the process of failing forward - and the theme that came out of our talk was what an AMAZING thing that boundaries are and do for us as healthy, independent, responsible, self-aware, adult human beings. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So first,</span> <strong>what is a boundary?</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Would it surprise you that many people don’t have them and sincerely struggle to set them? Do you have them? Do your parents, friends, colleagues? Boundaries are worthy of exploration and articulation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I like to think of a boundary first</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">as physical</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a clear space of demarcation between me and the other. Two physical bodies that are not blending as we stand separate. We are not in an embrace, kissing, or blending those physical bodies.</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">Even though we have chosen to come together as partners, we are still sovereign individuals.</span><span style= "font-weight: 400;">  </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But what about the non-physical side of boundaries?  The stuff you can’t see? The place where boundaries are most important in establishing you and the other. I need to know</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">where I begin and end energetically.</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;"> </span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">What is my baggage? What am I projectin