Welcome here!
Last week we gave the invitation to quieten the knowns to invite the knowings. An opportunity to extend beyond the accepted facts of our mind and being and embrace deeper knowings. In Quietening the Knowns- Inviting the Knowings.
Check it out here if you missed it.
And now to today… There are times when we press through an obstacle or fear without even really realising we are pushing through. We are just “doing our job”, being reliable, following through, whatever it takes.
Other times, the effort to move beyond whatever immediate obstacle presents itself, is herculean. And, may indeed seem at least, beyond us.
An Invitation
My invitation to you, is to make space for the obstacle, even in its weight, be that physical or emotional, psychological, or spiritual.
You don’t have to like it.
It doesn’t have to be a joyful welcoming.
No. Simply a little molding, a slight opening up, making just a little space.
Allow a little space for whatever obstacle presents itself.
Hold yourself gently in body and heart.
You are after all, an incredible being, an amazing person full of life experiences and gifts that far exceed the shadow of today’s obstacle.
It may not feel that way and that’s ok.
Your obstacle may be pain. A pain so intense it overshadows all of who you are.
That pain may be heart-ache, grief, the weights and sorrow of life and death.
That pain may also be physical, we are after all, physical beings as well as spiritual..
Whatever the obstacle, pain or otherwise, let it have just a little room to wiggle.
Let the obstacle be there. Beside you or inside you, either way is ok. But notice that whether it is beside you or inside you, it has a separate form.
Notice it has its own edges. It has its own space, just as you have your own separate form, your own edges.
Allow the edges to sit side by side or within one another like a beautiful set of Russian Matryoshka Stacking Dolls.
They can touch, they can share the same space for a time. And, they are separate.
You are not your obstacle.
The obstacle is not you.
You are not your pain.
Your pain is not the entirety of you.
Nor of me.
Pain will come.
Pain will go.
Sometimes it lingers for far longer than we would choose.
Sometimes pain seems to have the loudest voice of anything that we recognise as our own mind.
And it is separate from our mind.
It has its form. It has its time. It has its message.
And, it isn’t you.
Or me.
Allow the edges to become clearer. Allow the naming of its form. Allow its space.
Take a moment to truly recognise that you are separate.
Breathe into the separateness of you and your pain or other obstacle.
Feel the edges that separate your body from your pain.
Feel the edges that separate your heart from your pain.
Feel the edges that separate your being from your pain.
You existed before this obstacle. You existed before this pain.
You exist outside of this obstacle. You exist outside of this pain.
You exist.
In allowing the obstacle just a little space, I invite you to see and feel more clearly the entirety of you. All of the wonderful nuances of being that make you you.
Allow memories of joy and comfort to enter your mind and heart and body. Welcome the joyous memories and honour those of sorrow.
Allow awareness of the many roles you fill in your interpersonal life, to enter your mind and heart and body. Welcome the fullness, honour the grief of any lack you feel.
Allow the varied warmth and coolness, and scratchiness and smoothness of your own life’s texture.
You are wonderful and weary, strong and sorrowful, energised and hesitant, gorgeous and flawed, exceptional and ordinary, exquisitely divine and made of earth.
As am I.
We are wonderfully and fearfully made.
We have our treasure in earthen vessels.
We weep and we soar.
Life brings us obstacles and blessings.
Sometimes one precedes the other.
Sometimes they are different names for the same experience.
Sometimes, we just need to make a little room to allow into our space the pressing obstacle we desperately want to push away. Allow it space and in doing so, recognise that we are so much more than that which presses upon us.
Newton's third law: If an object A exerts a force on object B, then object B must exert a force of equal magnitude and opposite direction back on object A.
This law represents a certain symmetry in nature: forces always occur in pairs, and one body cannot exert a force on another without experiencing a force itself.
Rather than pushing away our obstacle, we can recognise it is exerting a force on us because we are separate to it. We can exert an equal and opposite force.
Where there is pain, we can allow ease. Where there is pressure, we can allow space. Where there is fear, we can allow trust. Where there is difficulty, we can invite imagination.
This obstacle, this pain of what ever origin or depth is not our undoing. It is not our end. It is a force to be reckoned with, as are you!
Allowing it space rather than furiously resisting as it presses upon us, we actually give it liberty to move further from us rather than fusing closely to us.
Recognise that you are a powerful being. A powerful you. A gentle being. A gentle you. A wise being. A wise you.
When you feel ready, being mindful of the beautiful edges of your being, reclaim your day.
May it be beautiful.
Welcome here.
Welcome to living your life.
Consciously.
Lovingly.
Gently.
Be kind to you.
Be kind.
Have a wonderful day.
Lovingly,
Melanie Williams de Amaya
Driftwood and Grace