Just as if I had been sitting with a directee in spiritual direction, I honored myself with deep listening. I was feeling trapped and what had I done to invite the same scenario, yet again? We were days away from a vacation and I was opening to possibilities, hoping that the change of scenery would gently jolt me into a new perspective, union with myself. It did!
A Native American woman guided us out over the Arizona desert. After a few minutes we came to a ladder that led us down. There, underneath the sand where we had been standing just minutes before, were gorgeous walls of rocks. As we worked our way through the canyon, we periodically looked up to see the sun shining through the slivered cuts in the land, to highlight the rocks in rich color.
I look back over my life and see how I have wasted worlds of time by primarily approaching challenges with my analytical mind, judging from the facts that I knew and interpreting those facts from my mind and experience. It had, and still has, its place.
Admittedly, I enjoyed hearing the words, what do you think? until my analyzing became anal-eyes-ing that kept me from a going deeper inside and befriending a deeper mystery, named Love. So, I began shelving my thoughts and sitting with, even dancing with my heart, first.
Being open to new invitations that actually come from situations or challenges is another way to approach obstacles. Making friends with the places inside that have long since been overlooked and giving intuition and heart a more prominent voice, gives life a whole new dimension.
By dropping what no longer belongs and embracing things that have been pushed aside, a mysterious union of opposites flourishes, a paradoxical marriage of being who you are, but not having to be who you think that you are.
W. B. Yeats said, “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield.”
What if a surprise lies inside?