Digesting The Layers - Daily tip #8
We just left a mirage of safety behind us. Yesterday was a fantastic place, yet diluted by convenience, illusion and availability, and always leaving us longing for more and everything. The world of status quo is collapsing before our eyes, it is hitting rock bottom, and though I trust in the universe to restore its broken parts, I am humbled by the task of having to digest the impermanence of all things.
Like for many, it is not my first encounter with a place where all that is familiar is lost, where universal forces are beyond anyone's control. Predictions may fall short as soon as one event generates another, and anything can happen. Beyond the fear of losing life or physical safety, there is also the terror of losing intangible freedoms, the right to our own feelings and ability to express, and the fear of loosing access to what allows us to overcome emotional, spiritual and psychological turmoil with integrity. This can be traumatic, even if not directly afflicting us in the here and now, it can bring up wounds from the past we were hoping to never have to unpack. It also unveils the injustices in our society which were not visible on a day to day basis, or it amplifies them. A pandemic does not rectify and recalibrate all things.
Living with uncertainty, existential pain and danger are places many of us have traveled to before. These experiences have taught us the salvation in moving towards fear and pain when they announce themselves, rather than away from them. They have taught us that when we are able to accept whatever arises, we are surrendering to the idea that we will at some point or another fall, and in that polarized tension we can practice remaining awake, curious and open to greeting and engaging with what follows next.
The practice is imperfect, but it enlightens our path as we descend into the abyss of our emotional oceans. The journey is indefinite. The newness of each day, challenges our sense of normal. Unlike a calendar that reads time from yesterday into tomorrow, in our current journey, we are traveling through layers of sunlight, twilight and the trenches of our human story.
The excursion demands of us discipline, grit, it requires proper protection and training, and the support of a dedicated team. This is a time for clarity of mind, decisiveness and self-preservation. On this path, we may discover that it is possible to walk away from what oppresses us, and there is life where we didn't imagine there might have been.
And most of all, the journey is one of love. Self-love, love of all parts of self, love for all things. The ability to hold onto our awe in the mystery of life itself.
Each day we awaken we have a choice, and each day we are learning.
Our seeds to recovery are already here, and in their time, they will grow.
The ARTrelief Team
Photo by Alex Povolyashko on Unsplash - The Antelope Canyon, Arizona
