Ring of Fire
Something to consider when you feel like you're going down...
Photo courtesy of Rich Dahlgren
There may be times in life that shake you to your core.
Strip you bare.
Leave you raw.
And in those moments, you may find yourself saying,
"I'd rather be anywhere but here."
Because 'here' seems too painful and too real and too much to endure.
And so you try to run away...
or hide...or ignore...or distract...or numb...
through food or drink or any other device that seems wise in the moment.
And it is all very innocent, isn't it?
We are in survival mode...within our minds.
Because what we feel seems as if it will swallow us whole.
So we do what we do to survive...
in the best way we know how at the time.
We do what we do to relieve the pain.
But here's what is also true.
In those moments when it all seems too much
when we feel like we are in our own ring of fire...going down, down, down,
our wise self is ever present...guiding,
if we continue to listen...
beyond our thinking mind.
And often, the wise self advises to
stay still and quiet
in the moment.
Because when you do...you begin to notice cracks in the pain.
Cracks that give way to something other than pain.
Cracks that allow for new thought and new feeling beyond the pain.
For
even in the midst of such overwhelming emotion...
there is space for beauty and love and wonder.
It is all still there
within the crack
no matter how fleeting
no matter how small.
And that is good to notice.
And it is a beginning.
Even and especially when you feel like you are going down, down, down,
in a ring of fire.
* Edited post from the archives