LARIMAR PROPERTIES

✧ EMOTIONAL HONESTY ✧ COMPASSION ✧ COMMUNICATION ✧
✧ VULNERABILITY ✧ PEACE ✧ KINDNESS ✧ LOVE ✧
✧ SELF-RESPECT ✧ RELATIONSHIPS ✧ FORGIVENESS ✧
✧ OCEAN ✧ CALM ✧ WISDOM ✧

Larimar is a rare blue variety of Pectolite, known commercially from deposits in the Dominican Republic. Its beautiful patterns of blue, white and turquoise often resemble sunlight moving through shallow tropical water, making its association with the ocean almost irresistible.

To me, Larimar represents emotional honesty expressed with compassion.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH LARIMAR

Larimar holds a particularly special place in my relationship with minerals because it was one of the first crystals I remember having a distinct, conscious experience with.

When I first wore Larimar as a 10 year old child, I unexpectedly became extremely emotional and cried in the middle of my classroom. At one point, the Larimar bead even popped out of the bracelet I was wearing.

Years later, I wore Larimar again, this time in a necklace, and strangely enough, experienced that same emotional response. I found myself crying unexpectedly, in public.

I can't say exactly why Larimar has affected me this way, nor do I assume everyone will experience the same thing.

What I do know is that this mineral has repeatedly brought me into contact with my own emotions and vulnerability.

For that reason, Larimar remains deeply associated for me with feeling, emotional honesty and acknowledging what exists beneath the surface.

VULNERABILITY & COMMUNICATION

Larimar reminds me that having a valid reason to be hurt does not automatically make every expression of that hurt constructive.

Some people become aggressive. Others become passive-aggressive or withdraw completely. Some insist that nothing is wrong while quietly carrying resentment underneath.

There is tremendous vulnerability in simply being able to say:

That hurt me.

It can sometimes feel safer to become angry, sarcastic or distant than to admit that another person's actions affected us deeply.

Healthy relationships require the courage to communicate those emotions honestly while remaining conscious of how we communicate them.

Compassion does not require silence.

Kindness does not mean allowing ourselves to be mistreated.

And honesty does not require cruelty.

Larimar reminds me to seek the balance between them.

SELF-RESPECT & RELATIONSHIPS

I also associate Larimar with self-respect within relationships.

Love should not require us to continually ignore behaviour that harms us.

Sometimes growth means becoming more attentive to patterns we previously excused; disrespect, manipulation, dishonesty, inconsistency or the gradual erosion of our boundaries.

Recognizing those patterns does not automatically tell us what decision to make. Relationships are complicated, and people are capable of both failure and change.

But we cannot make wise decisions about relationships while refusing to acknowledge what is actually happening within them.

Compassion for another person should not require the abandonment of compassion for ourselves.

THE OCEAN

The appearance of Larimar inevitably brings my mind to water.

The ocean can be extraordinarily peaceful and extraordinarily powerful. Its surface can appear completely still while enormous movement continues beneath it.

Human emotions can be much the same.

What we suppress does not necessarily disappear simply because it is no longer visible.

Larimar reminds me to become curious about what exists beneath the surface; grief, anger, disappointment, fear, longing and love.

Not every emotion needs to control our behaviour.

But sometimes an emotion needs to be acknowledged before it can be understood.

THE VIRTUE OF LARIMAR

Larimar reminds me that emotional maturity is neither suppressing everything we feel nor surrendering control to everything we feel.

It is learning to recognize an emotion, understand what it may be telling us and choose how we will respond.

Sometimes that means speaking.

Sometimes forgiving.

Sometimes establishing a boundary.

Sometimes admitting that we were wrong.

And sometimes simply allowing ourselves to say:

This hurt me.

A symbol of emotional honesty, compassion, vulnerability, self-respect and the courage to communicate with love.