I have been doing some thinking about a follow-up to my first blog. As with everything in life, there are many layers to all things. The first blog spoke to the beauty of seeing the light in all things. So for round two, let’s flip that first blog on its tush and see what comes up . . .
We all have bad days. What happens at those times when we simply cannot put our face towards the sun? We may know that this would be best for us, we may want to simply turn our head in a different direction and see the light, yet we just can’t get there. What stops us?
How can we find new ways of seeing when our eyes are cloudy?
When we are challenged to see the light before us, it is because we have dimmed our spirit. We dim our spirit by denying the depth and bredth of who we are and what we feel
When our eyes cannot see clearly, when we are feeling knotted up inside, the best thing we can give ourselves is the gift of our feelings. When we feel tight in the body, it is our body’s way of telling us that we are containing feelings and emotions that are asking to find their way out again. The body is one smart cookie! By giving expression to our anger or sorrow, disappointment or longing, we find our way back to ourselves. The energy that we use to contain our feelings begins to open up. We become expanded. We are free.
I was in a yoga class awhile back when the teacher spoke about a personal experience. She had recently attended the funeral of her oldest friend’s father. She talked about this friend’s brother, who voiced his hurt and upset about how his rageful father had treated him over the years. My teacher felt that this son, now a grown man, should “LET IT GO.” She spoke emphatically for quite some time. The more she spoke about how he should let it go, the more uncomfortable I became.
Here is the sad truth . . . we live in the ultimate get-over-it culture. You know the one, the one that dictates that we should have no feelings, that we numb ourselves to anything uncomfortable or at the very least, pretend that we don’t feel what we feel. This is the same culture that has come up with “just let it go.
Letting go is not much different than “get over it already!” It is truly impossible to genuinely get over something that we do not bring consciousness to. RELEASE is a very different phenomenon, far more friendly and liberating.
When we come into presence with ourselves, we bring opportunities for new awareness and understanding. Engaging a full and listening heart, we can transform that which causes us pain. How magical it is when we sit in presence with our deepest and truest selves, even when those selves (and we have many) may not be comfortable to attend to. With loving attention to our feelings, we bring healing to those places inside us that so badly need our care. This is called RELEASE. Release allows for the natural order of things. It cannot be forced, and it does not point fingers. Instead, we can move through our feelings, free to turn our face to the sun once again.
I invite you to take a moment and reflect on what happens for you when you are having a bad day. How do you dim your spirit? What do you do? What do you tell yourself?
How can you begin to make friends with your deepest feelings? What can you do the next time you are struggling through your day, so that you can shift what is happening inside of you? Instead of trying to quickly “get over” what ails you, can you sit in friendship with yourself, making room for the many parts of you?
The journey is not about getting over. The journey is about MOVING THROUGH. We call this grace.
Sometimes I will place a hand over my heart and breathe slowly and deeply.
You can tell yourself, “I see you. I care about how you are feeling. I am here to listen.” Breathe deeply into your hand, your heart, your life.
On the wings of your breath, you can and will come home.
With gratitude to all days, the cloudy and those bright with the sun.