Day 51: Elahè Mehrel
What do you do for a living?
I train parents and couples to converse with their loved ones in the language of the other. I believe as human beings we are different “universes” – we each have our own language. I believe that miscommunication comes from the lack of understanding that we are each a different universe. In order to understand each other we need to become “bilingual”.
What do you do to feel alive?
I am one of the lucky people whose work, whose reason for being and whose relationships are all built on the concept that every single person is a gift sent to me that I would like to unwrap by crossing the bridge to their world. That’s what I do, that’s what I teach and that’s what I love. It’s like space travel.
A lesson you learned from your mother:
Simplicity
A lesson you learned from your father:
I think he definitely appreciated every moment. He really celebrated life.
What’s the most beautiful thing you saw today?
The birds. There was a congregation of vultures on the side of the road this morning around sunrise. I took out my camera and tried to roll down the window slowly but by the time I had my camera ready they flew away. It was an incredible scene.
What’s one thing you wouldn’t want anyone to take away from you?
My connection to my kids.
What’s a thought you would like to never have again?
That I want to die now.
If you could become an inanimate object what would it be?
A camera because if I’m not here to say what I want to say I would like the camera to capture all the beautiful work people are doing in respect of the earth and to share it – to put it on the internet because we need to realize that there are more and more of us. Hopefully, it would be a camera in the hands of one of my children so I’ll be around them too.
When do you feel most loved?
When I feel like I’m in a web of connection – when I’ve had an encounter with another human who makes me feel I’m being loved for my essence and not for any labels such as the things I’ve done or given.
If your life were to end tomorrow what would be left undone?
A few people I have to call and say “I love you” or “Thank you”.
What global issue would you take on if you didn’t have to worry about how?
I really believe that if two human beings – heads of state, couples, students – really sat across from each other and saw each other and could see each others’ essence – all the manmade problems would be gone. So, my pledge is to get as many clashing groups of people to sit across from each other. We could start with Jews and Muslims since my husband and I are supposedly from “different sides” and yet we see each others’ essence and our love for each other continues to grow.
What’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you?
It was 14 years ago. My children were in a carpool and the woman who went to pick up my daughter called to say she was not there. From the moment we found out she was missing to the moment we found her was an hour and they were the scariest moments of my life.