We often hear about the power of love. However, love usually sounds abstract for many people. The reason: many of us only think about one aspect of love, which is romantic love. I think true love is way more encompassing than mere romance although romance is important to sustain love in the long run. Here, I am referring to a higher level of love, a love that is almost holy. As such, it’s a love that you can feel only from a personal angel’s touch.
In a recent blog, I talk about amazing human beings whose love has changed lives of people in their surrounding. Based on my own experiences and observations, I have spread these people into three categories: Permanent Angels (PA), Temporary Angels (TA), and Would-be Angels (WA). I refer to them as angels because of the positive impact they usually have on us, particularly PAs and TAs.
Personal Angel’s Touch that We Are Blessed to Feel
Funny how sometimes one person can just come into our life and suddenly everything seems to get into perspective. We may not know the reasons or even how it may have happened. And yet, we feel a personal angel’s touch at the right moment, when we mostly needed help to tap into our inner-self and unlock our true capacity. This is what I call feeling a personal angel’s touch.
Under this angel’s influence, we grow into a better version of ourselves because they sometimes see in us potential that we don’t see in ourselves. Additionally, our angels can see past our makeup and see the good that is sleeping in our soul. Besides, they will tell you that ‘you got this’ even when you don’t think you can do it. Their faith in us is the little boost we need to unlock that hidden potential, and to guarantee our success.
A Personal Angel’s Touch Closer to Home
Angels can also be people who have been there for us all our lives, such as our parents, family members or significant others. This angel’s touch is like an unbreakable bond, a connection that still sustains us even in their absence. To repeat the song’s lyrics, “you raise me up to walk on stormy seas”. Angel’s words, kindness, understanding, and compassion resonate so deeply that we feel like we can take on the world, sometimes.
Personally, I have been blessed to have crossed the path of many angels. In various areas of my life, in my family, among friends and colleagues, I have had angels who have been/are there for me at every step. They are my backbone, my go-to people, my angels. I consider some of them, like my oldest sister, as PAs. I can see her wings. Her halo is a beacon that keeps guiding me along my quest to becoming a better human being.
I feel grateful and blessed for having known such love and such kindness. I hope one day to be able to pass this on to other people. In the meantime, I hope sharing stories of personal angel’s touch will help others realize the impact of the angels in their life and feel a little more blessed even in the face of adversity. It’s important to know that we are not alone.
6 Heart-warming Stories about Personal Angel’s Touch
Their testimonies are inspiring, uplifting, and will make you want to become a better person. These stories will also make you realize how blessed you are because you too have had or have an angel or two in your life. Think about your personal angel’s touch while you are reading their stories.
Jonas
Who, in
my life, has been an angel for me?
While I’ve been fortunate, in my life, to cross paths with many angels, one, in particular, comes to mind: I recently started at a new job, in a new department and didn’t know anyone. I was nervous about whether I’d like the new department, whether I’d do well, whether I’d fit in, whether I’d make new friends, etc. My new manager was running late and so another manager came and signed me in, welcomed me to the department, helped me get set up and introduced me to everyone in our division (or most of them at any rate).
Later, my manager arrives with his son and I see her crawling on the floor, playing peek-a-boo with the kid. She looked up at me and said: “Just so you know: I do this all the time. I’m just lucky there’s a kid here, today, so it’s not weird!” This made me laugh, put me at ease and made me feel comfortable and at home in my new department. It has also inspired me to be welcoming to others.
In which
category of angel would I place myself?
I guess
I’m a Temporary Angel. I can be quite introspective and am
very aware of my own imperfections, but I do try to learn from mistakes, learn
from others and constantly improve myself and try to be a better person every
day. For instance, inspired by people who were welcoming towards me, I
try to be welcoming towards others. I do try to act selflessly but I
realize that fear often holds me back from being as kind as I can be. For
example:
Fear of being a failure in life:
I have certain life goals that I have yet to achieve. Notably, having children and immigrating to somewhere warmer. I worry that I might never achieve them. This leads me to rush to use people rather than just appreciating their intrinsic value. For example, sometimes when I meet a pretty girl, I am so scared to miss an opportunity by being “friend-zoned” by the potential future mother of my children. So, I rush to flirt with her and establish a romantic relationship with her, before really getting to know her, rather than being happy with just being her friend. If unsuccessful, this leads to a painful rejection, of course.
But, even if successful, it has led to some bad relationships with women who may have made decent friends, but were a poor match for me, romantically. And when the relationship ends, we both lose each other’s friendship and support. Strangely enough, my struggle with obesity has taught me humility, in this regard. I assume that all women find me unattractive and I settle for being just friends, and have managed to cultivate many platonic friendships, recently. While I work on getting my weight back under control, I am learning to better value women for their intrinsic dignity and not for what I can get from them.
Fear of
being a “loser“: I am afraid of seeming unpopular which can hold me
back from showing people the love and respect that they deserve. For
example, I have friends with disabilities whom I have avoided inviting to
events. I fear that people whom I’m trying to impress may see me as a
“loser” because I have to settle for friends
that just aren’t cool. I am not proud of this.
Fear that my motivations aren’t as selfless as I’d like to believe:
Even if I am kind to someone, without expecting something in return from them, I ask myself if, maybe, I’m just doing it for virtue signalling, i.e. showing off how “good” I am to someone else who I am hoping to get something from.
Fear of rejection: For example, I might avoid
inviting someone somewhere out of fear that the person will reject me and not
want to be my friend, or anything else for that matter.
Fear that
my intentions might be misinterpreted: For example, I might avoid showing too much
kindness towards women, out of fear that my words and actions might be seen as
flirtatious. I suppose that wouldn’t be so bad if they responded
positively to that. But I fear the awkwardness and humiliation
of being rejected by a girl before even asking her out! I also worry that
showing genuine gratitude and appreciation to my supervisors might be seen as
“sucking up” and deteriorate my relationship with them, rather
than improve it.
Fear of moral disgust:
I have some strong moral values which are not shared by all and I can be quite judgmental of others who don’t share my values. Often, I fear expressing or standing up for my values, even though I think it would be better for humanity, if I did so, out of fear that people may lose respect for me, as they might have strong moral values that run contrary to mine. I often avoid getting too close to people who may hold radically different values as I fear that I may like them less. Even worse, I fear that I might find out that they have done something which I consider morally abhorrent.
I fear that I may never be able to look them in the eye again, forgive them (especially if they are not sorry!), or see the humanity in them and continue the friendship and peaceful dialogue. Even now, I realize that I’m being intentionally vague about this out of fear of losing the respect of the editor and readers of this blog…I believe a Permanent Angel would not be afraid of standing up for what is right, even if people may seem them as a devil, and, without condoning their behaviour, would love someone unconditionally, no matter what they think, say or do.
Fear of being seen as “holier than thou”: For example, I recently became a Christian, but I don’t want to lose my friends because they think that I am all “high and mighty” or that I think I’m better than them. So, sometimes, I overcompensate and engage in very vulgar talk, just to remind them that I am no “better” than them. I believe a Permanent Angel, whilst avoiding judging others’ imperfections, seeks to be pure of mind, thoughts and actions.
Yu (Jennifer)
In which category of angels would you place
yourself?
I think I am an angel of kindness, I am happy to help others, and considerate. However, my weakness is not being good at refusing the request of others, although sometimes I want to refuse, but it is difficult to say. I think real kindness is to be able to put yourself in others’ shoes, but also to have your own position. – Jennifer
Who in your life has/have been an angel for you?
My husband is my first angel, he is my love, my family, my best friend. He studies and works hard for our family and tries his best to give us the best life. Moreover, he is very careful and takes care of me; he can understand me and listen to me. We have a lot in common. My daughter is my second angel. She is very lovely, very clever, and bring joy to our family.
Marlon
In which category of angels would you place
yourself?
I consider myself as being a temporary Angel. I am here to love, support and protect my daughter while we are both alive.
Who in your life has/have been an angel for you?
The past has legated us a world in disarray and decay. The only representation of goodness or angelic in my life is my daughter. She is my angel.
David
I would classify myself, based on the 3 available archetypes, as a temporary angel.
Angels that comes to mind would be my parents and my girlfriend. They are always there for me in a time of need, but all three are also able to guide me, and help me see my mistakes. They are beneficial to my growth and continuous improvement as a human being. – David
Boubacar Ouedraogo (French with English translation)
1) Si je devais choisir quel type d’ange je suis, je me considérerais comme un TA (ange Temporaire).Je suis capable de faire des sacrifices pour des personnes à qui je tiens et ne rien demander en retour. Par contre, quand on apprécie vraiment quelqu’un on ne va pas toujours chercher à savoir ce qu’on a à gagner, mais plutôt si on peut se rendre utile, aider la personne en question et lui rendre service.
If I had to choose a type of angel, I would say I am a TA (Temporary Angel). I can make sacrifices for people I care about without asking anything in return. And yet, when we appreciate someone, we don’t always try to know what we can gain, but rather if we can be of service, if we can help that person.
2) Mes parents (ma mère et mon père) ont été des anges permanents (PA) pour moi. Ils se sont sacrifiés énormément, m’ont toujours soutenu dans mes activités, m’ont toujours encouragé et ont toujours été là aussi bien physiquement qu’émotionnellement. C’est grâce à eux que je suis là où je suis et je leur en serais éternellement reconnaissant.
My parents (my mother and my father) have been permanent angels (PA) for me. They made enormous sacrifices for me, have always supported me in my endeavours, always encouraged me and always been there for me both physically and emotionally. Thanks to them, I am where I am today, and I will forever be grateful to them.
John Nam
If I had to choose, I would consider myself as a WA. I am far from being good, but I am trying my best to love and help others.
I assume most people will think of their mom for this question. And, I also consider my mom as the most angelic figure to me and I would categorize her as TA. She has always been by my side and she sacrificed everything to raise me and my brother. Without her love and sacrifice, I would not be able to be here.
What about you? What type of angels do you think you are? Who has/have been/are angels in your life? Let your heart talk and share your story in regards to a personal angel’s touch.
Stay tuned for other heart-warming stories about personal angel’s touch.
Do you believe in angels? I dobecause crossing the path of loving angels, these people who have been there for me all my life is a marvelous blessing.Besides, the good thing is, my angels look like me asthey are made of flesh and blood. Ultimately, they are humans to the core.
The Blessing of Crossing the Path of Loving Angels
There is no greater blessing than being shadowed under an angel’s wings. As Maya Angelou gracefully describes it in her poem Touched by An Angel, “It is only love which sets us free”. And I am talking here about the love of an angel. It is a feeling of no other. Some of us may have been crossing the path of loving angels from time to time whereas others may have been living it daily. It’s all about acknowledging it.
Lately, I have been thinking very hard about life, forgiveness, happiness, love, etc. Just the deep life thinking. In addition, I looked at my life and considered several events; small ones and big ones, sad ones and the happy little moments. Therefore, I realized that we are sometimes lucky because of some special people in our lives.
Crossing the Path of Loving Angels Can Drive Confidence
We often need to hear from someone that we got this, and that we can do it. As much as it is important to be confident and all, and to believe in ourselves, we sometimes need this little boost to help us become that confident person we were always meant to be. According to Brittany Packnett’s words in a TED Talk, confidence requires permission. We sometimes need someone to give us this permission, and to let us know we are not alone.
Often, we get to a crossroad in our lifetime. I mean this point in time that forces us to look at our life’s path from an outside point of view. As we revisit the various corners of our life path, we realize that we are lucky, but not because we are not hard-working individuals, not because we do not give our 110%.
Crossing the Path of Loving Angels Can Positively Impact our Life
In fact, we are blessed because we have crossed the path of many angels. During our lifetime, a group of select people, at specific points in time, have been there for us. Their roles? Giving us the permission to become a better version of ourselves.
I know because some of these amazing people have been there for me. To me, they are like angels, but I don’t mean some kind of spiritual beings looking over me from way above. I refer to them as angels because they are sometimes able to push their ability to be good and do good beyond human limits. They usually take upon themselves to make you and I feel better, even when we do not deserve it. Thanks to them, we grow everyday into a better version of ourselves.
Types of Angels Who Have Been Crossing our Path during our lifetime
To me, a permanent angel can be anyone in our surrounding, but someone who flies almost above us. You can almost see these people’s wings. Ironically, PAs seem to be above us because they are humble enough to place themselves in a position to always serve other human beings. Doing grand gesture, changing lives without asking anything in return are PA’s main characteristic. A PA is someone close to what is described as saint in holy books. PAs love deeply and can sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of love.
Persona
For instance, imagine somebody in a family who always remembers everyone’s birthday. This person always ensures every family member feel special by always reaching out, but easily forgives when the family ignores him or her. Picture a dad who can deeply channel his inner love to forgive the murderer of his daughter. How about a total stranger who plunges without thinking, without hesitation into a river to save someone’s life!
These are all examples of permanent angel’s behaviour. In every situation, one needs to be selfless, forgiving, courageous, and loving to the core to be able to act like this. Once you can behave like this, you definitely become a permanent angel. You earned your wings.
Downside of Crossing the Path of Permanent Angels
PAs are often seen as either “too good” or “inhuman”. Some people, even those who benefit from their selfless acts are sometimes dubious, ungrateful or look down to them. Honestly, I am not sure if I could ever find within me the strength, courage, love, and understanding to forgive someone who hurts my kids with no reason. I have a deep respect for PAs, but I would shy away from walking in their shoes. PAs are difficult to love, but easily command respect and maybe admiration. Someone you wish you could look up to, but you know deep down you can never be like…. Unless… Unless you learn to channel profoundly your inner love.
Bottom down – there are only so few humans who can rise to the state of PAs within their lifetime. However, anyone who has the chance to cross a PAs in their life is blessed.
Temporary Angels
(TA)
Now a TA is someone you and I can be or at least look up to. I would compare a TA to a penguin, a bird with wings that cannot fly. Why? TAs are profoundly humans. They navigate often in a grey area between good and bad. TAs do love and can make sacrifices from time to time. They can understand and are endowed with the ability to forgive.
As opposed to a PA,
a TA is more logical than intuitive. TAs live in constant fears. Fears that
they will lose something or someone valuable to them, fears that they may not
gain something as valuable as what they put on the table for trading. However, they
can do great acts of love from time to time. TAs will do selfless acts very
often for people they deeply care about.
Persona
Examples of TAs can be a mom who makes the ultimate sacrifice by pushing their kids out the way in the wake of an imminent accident. Another good example is a lover who puts their partner’s happiness above their own, so much that they physically feel their partner’s pain and/or joy. A friend who is happy for their friend’s success even when they just failed themselves in the same area. Most human beings act from time to time as someone’s else angel.
Again, as Maya Angelou says it, we can all “be a rainbow in someone’s cloud”.
TAs Downside
Well, it is not easy for TAs to win their wings as their halo flickers too much, merely disappearing. Being deeply human is a TA’s Achilles heel as they are affected by their own internal conflicts. When looking at a TA, we usually see ourselves in a mirror. We congratulate ourselves in others for the good deeds and we ferociously deny any misbehaviour. “Nope, I would never act like that”. As binary individuals ourselves, we associate and disassociate ourselves to TAs. It is as C. JoyBell puts it:
“There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human- in not having to be just happy or just sad- in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time.”
I see WAs as people who sometimes forget about their humanity. They are the definition of what is called a constant work in progress. Nevertheless, they are very self-conscious and spend most of their time dealing with feelings of regrets. As such, their guilt pushes them to try doing better everyday. On the other hand, they can be as bad as they can do good. They would tend sometimes to focus more on their bad side without even realizing it. WAs deal everyday with a load of pride and self-love that can undermine their ability to love truly.
In a nutshell, WAs are loving, but conflictual and very sensitive beings.
They can help, rescue, and even sacrifice themselves for others. But, most of
the time, they will expect something in return or at least bet on a future
return.
Persona
For instance, a teenager who loves his or her parents, but keeps hurting them. Except, each time the teen would feel as bad as the parent who has been hurt. He or she would try fixing things by apologizing, but would later repeat the same hurtful behaviour. Another persona can be a co-worker who has a tendency of showing off or diminishing other employees as a way to ascertain/establish his or her role. However, he or she would always feel bad afterwards and feel the need to constantly apologize to others.
Disadvantage of Crossing the Path of Would-be Angels
As they say what is said is said and what is done is done. Therefore, saying sorry will never erase completely the damage that mean words or bad behavior have done. Although WAs truly carry good in them and are also endowed with the ability to love, they usually leave a bad impression. Since they keep multiplying the same bad behaviours, people might tend to forget about the good deeds that they do.
Conclusion
With everything that deals with categories, there is no
watertight division between the three types of angels. As such, some people
might not fit in any category. Others might combine some of each type’s
characteristics or alternate between two categories.
To summarize, we are all lucky to have at some point or another crossed an angel’s path. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, we can all be an angel in someone’s darkest moments. This is one of the best features of humanity.
Very often we are asking ourselves how different our life could have been if we had followed a different path. Every day we are questionning our decisions. What if, what if….
An author had had this call 16 years ago where he was at a path of his life when out of nothing a simple, normal gesture, an everyday decision had changed his life forever: opening the TV.
We never know where our path can lead us.
Life is a series of decision that we make every second of our lives. Even when we are not always aware of it, every decision we make affects our life and others’. Even simple gesture like drinking a glass of water. This is how Author Mitch Albom had had his life-changing experience.
“All the values that you aspire to in life. All the things you want to accomplish in your life, the lessons you want to teach other people in your life, the legacy you want to leave behind after you leave this Earth can all be done within the family that you create and continue to spread out to the rest of the world long after you’re gone.” – Mitch Albom (Source: Forbes)
This is an interview full of insights into life itself, a refreshing note on human connection leading to real success.
Albom has raised questions that we ask ourselves everyday. He mentioned that he had seen his teacher on TV, talking about his own upcoming death and that’s how he got reconnected to this friend and mentor after 16 years. That is also how he got to honour a promise that he had not been keeping for 16 years.
If he hadn’t turned on the TV to this specific channel at this exact moment, what would have happened? However, he did and this simple gesture, this everyday choice had turned into a wonderful story, a famous book: Tuesdays With Morrie!
We often question ourselves about decisions we make or don’t make. If I had taken this road, what would have happened to me? If I hadn’t met this person, where would I be today? If I studied something different, if I went to college, if I went on that trip, if I chose a different career path…. So many ifs and we cannot help wonder if a decision or another would have neared us to nirvana.
The interview also offers an open window on life and death. For instance, our reluctance to talk about or to even consider that we are going to die one day. We prefer thinking that we are immortal and act like it, giving us good reasons to ignore others’ pain, others’ feelings.
We act as if we don’t care while inside of us we are so aware of this fact that we are always in a marathon, trying to win as much as we can before the fatal day.
Unfortunately, we are not aware of how much important opportunities we are missing on to be better human beings, to make time for our loved-ones, to make our passage on this Earth worthwhile. We are actually missing on opportunities that could have made us on a successful path, probably on the life path we secretly desire and deserve. We are often oblivious to the fact that helping others result in successful communities.
Take action for a better life
It is important that we truly ask ourselves how we would like to be remembered and act like it.
The greatest part of the interview is to find out that Morrie had been a teacher and a mentor to Albom even when he had been ignoring him. Morrie had passed on to Albom the greatest teaching of all: the wisdom of life, which is living through the next generation.
We are not immortal, we are here on this Earth right now for a reason. It’s a time to learn, then to teach what we have learnt, to pass on the wisdom to the next generation. It’s important to pay attention to our surrounding, to people next to us. It’s important to value each other. Most of all to confide our knowledge to the future generation. And Mitch believes that your own children is where to start. A family is where to start building the society of tomorrow.
This is not an easy job to learn to pay attention to and to value others as Mitch Albom had learnt himself. It is easier when you have someone, a mentor to teach you the way of life. Needless to say it is a difficult job when you don’t have someone around you can learn from. However, it is not impossible. Read the Forbes interview here for more insights.
