Affinity With Another Calls Us to Follow Our Hearts

Affinity-  
“A natural attraction of feeling; a sense of kinship; an unexplainable, 
instinctual soul connection between individuals.”

In the French film Amelie (2001), we experience a wonderful example of affinity. As Amelie is walking through the train station she sees a young man, Nino, bent down looking under a photo booth. She stops walking as she approaches him, he looks up, their eyes meet and there’s an immediate soul-connection between them: An affinity that Amelie seizes upon as she pursues Nino throughout the rest of the film. She follows her heart and it leads her in many unexpected directions.

For starters, Amelie discovers that Nino has a pretty weird hobby: He collects photo booth pictures that people have rejected. So he has photo albums filled with pictures of people he doesn’t even know. Most of these pictures have been torn-up by their original owners and Nino has lovingly pieced them back together. She later discovers that Nino had previously collected footprints as obsessively as he presently collects discarded photos. To top things off, she learns, rather embarrassingly, that Nino works in a porno shop.

At this point in the film, it’s likely Amelie has many fears running through her head. Is he obsessive-compulsive? Is he a sex-addict? Was he dropped on his head at birth? Yet despite all of the seeming strikes against Nino, Amelie follows her heart. She is richly attuned to the affinity she feels with him, and as the movie progresses we experience Amelie and Nino as true soul mates.

At this point, we need to ask ourselves an important question: Would we do the same as Amelie? Would we recognize that sense of soul-connection or natural attraction to someone and follow it through? Upon finding out some odd things about the person, would we still pursue him or her? Or would we simply write the person off because common sense tells us to shut-off the feeling in our heart before we get hurt?

How we answer these questions may be determined largely by just how fear-based we are. If we’re used to playing it safe, and fear is causing an uneasy feeling of agitation in our guts, then we will likely forget about our Nino. Likewise, if we’re controlled by the opinions of others, like parents or friends, and they tend to be churchy busy-bodies, then we will likely say goodbye to our Nino. But if, on the other hand, we are grounded in who we really are and if we are unswayed by the opinions of others, we may well take the risk of pursuing this Nino fellow to the very end.

After all, what’s there to be afraid of? Either it works out or it doesn’t. If we get to know the person and decide that the fit isn’t really right, we can always end the relationship. And if the fit is right, then we’re blessed to have connected heart and soul to someone created to be a significant person in our lives. It seems better to take the risk, as Amelie did

We all experience, from time to time, an unexplainable soul-connection to a certain person we don’t even know. The next time it happens, will we connect or disconnect? Will we live life by taking a risk that may lead to new found joy, or will we simply continue to exist, safe and lonely? The choice is ours. But choosing to take a risk is how we grow and allow our souls to shine!