I tripped into something today that I would like to share with you. It is from Mark Nepo’s book “The Book of Awakening”.
Beneath most headaches is a heartache.
Often we find it easier to think our way around things rather than to feel our way through them: What can we do to pull ourselves out of a bad mood? What can we buy, remove or repair that will reduce or solve a loved one’s anger or sadness?
In retrospect, I realize I have spent many hours problem solving emotional facts I just needed to feel. I know now that my frequent labors to understand what went wrong, while somewhat useful, often were distractions from feeling the sadness and disappointment necessary to heal and move on.
It’s all very human. No one wants to feel pain, especially when you cant quite point to a specific cut or wound. So it is with the heart. There is nothing to show or stitch up, yet everything is affected.
The truth is that while analyzing and strategizing and preparing ourselves can occupy our minds, and may even help prevent us from being hurt the same way twice, there is no substitute for giving the wound air, which in the case of the heart means saying deeply, without aversion or self-pity, “ouch”
Breathe deeply and trust that your heart has the wisdom to filter and process this discomfort, if you will only give it the chance.
Thank you mark Nepo.
So, if we consider this true (and I do), then what? Why take this journey to embrace the truth, and dispell assumptions, myth and negative dialogue? Why take this step toward T.R.U.E (telling really uncomfy experiences-as I call it)? Take it because it removes the boa constrictor from your chest, and the barbed wire from your around your heart. Take it because it’s not as bad as you think. Take it because it will not kill you. What are you exhausting yourself with, that if you chose to feel it and release it, the fight would be over, leaving a space for acceptance and peace?
