When we can (underlined, in italics) make mistakes in the presence of another, without fearing mockery or reproach, without fearing ridicule — that is precious!

People in whose presence we can meet our own vulnerability, imperfection and weak sides without feeling shame, without backing away from our own distorted reflection.

People in whose presence we can acknowledge and accept our “ugly” portrait are a find and a treasure; they are to be cherished.

We are like little boxes: there is something under the lid, but what it is stays a riddle until you open it.

Sometimes under a beautiful lid there is emptiness, or mouldy velvet. Nothing much on the outside, and inside the opposite — at the very least you lose interest, you close it and put it on the shelf.

Sometimes you gaze, enchanted, at the appealing pattern, the colours, the material. The surface is pleasant to the hand; perhaps it is an antique or a one-off.

On the outside. The inside is filled with shards of coloured bottles.

Sometimes a little box bought somewhere in a second-hand shop turns out to be unexpectedly beautiful.

And every touch deepens the sense of worth, of attachment and of love.

And very rarely, but it happens, under the lid there is also a PEARL hidden, or another beautiful precious stone.

There is no limit to the delight of that surprise. Perhaps even a collector’s happiness of possession.

We do not come across such specimens often.

Not to let them slip away, to cherish them and pass them on. At the very least, to keep them today…

Author @‌iuliia_lobysheva