Like many of us, I believed that a person who built boundaries around himself either emotionally or physically was simply being difficult or hostile. That is, until I experienced the need to forgive others.
Building emotional or sometimes physical fences can be essential to the forgiveness process. It protects oneself emotionally and even physically. It signals that, while one is maintaining self-worth while letting go of resentment. Boundaries also promote healthy relationships. By setting healthy ones (ones without negativity), one promotes healthy relationship dynamics.
Profound? Enjoy this simple sonnet.
Fences, built so solid, to protect
Guardians of the self and soul
High, solid and erect
Keeps away harm untold
Fences, built so solid, do cover
Allow the yard within to grow
A yard with roses and clover
So emptiness and dearth do not show
Fences, solid with space, allow
The growth of sturdy olive trees
Doves fly in, perch on their boughs,
In their beaks within, their leaves
Fences, built so solid, fortify
The soul and space, beautify.
The Getting Literal Writing Alcove 