healing started…

when I started to face the hardest stuff there was to face. It got messy before it got smoother. And, of course, it never happened in a straight line. But, coming face to face with what was ailing me was a turning point. I didn’t want to go there. I guess it’s the old adage that recognizing there is a problem is the first step in solving it. Circling around it I was avoiding the exact thing getting in the way. Robert Johnson says that refusing to own and appreciate our shadows can get us into real trouble, not just as individuals, but cultures, as well. He says we will “store up or accumulate” that which we disown and it can even show up as war, racial intolerance, chaos, and so on, in society, if we fail to address it. That chaos can end up inside us, too. He uses the parrot who quickly learns to curse because it feels and hears the energy behind those words as an example of how, without even noticing, we give power to them. We tend to parrot the words that hold the most power in our heads to play them on repeating loops. Of course, as negative as those words often are, they might themselves be masking the beautiful shadow we need to own--owning up to our true selves complete with our poignant sorrows and our empowering weaknesses. May we find new words to lead us to the truth of who we are with all our imperfections, no matter how painful, that will in turn lead us toward more acceptance of both the magnificent shadows and light that we carry. And may this be a place that “tips the scales toward the words we all deserve to say, to hear, and to remember” (see In Your Bones).