I steep deep
in subaqueous dreams
wriggling like a bubble
from the bottom of a pot
up, up,
one with the water yet
jostling to break
a stalwart skyward swim,
bouncing to the brim
Until I undertake
to manifest my own wake
Tumbling through the process
of my own self-birth
(c) Summer Blake 2019
It is time to reweave the dream.
To unweave false ends
and false realities
to welcome new stories.
To let the true light shine
Unceasing in its All-Glory.
For those of us living in an area of the world gifted with the full range of all four seasons, winter can be a difficult time of year. Bounded in by cold, our bodies are caged indoors and forced to sit in muted stillness, and the sun’s light is dim and occasional. Our souls ache, weighed down by these burdens. We crave the open sky, the whisper-breath of warm sun on bare shoulders. But the warmth so freely given in the summer months is but a distant memory. And as the long cold months drag on, our longing sometimes turns toward depression and despair.
In truth, what we are waiting for is for things to “get better.” Waiting for spring is waiting for signs of change to appear. Many people trying to change a habit decide to implement the new routine in the new year, the dead of winter. But two months hence, it’s still barely March and most have abandoned their commitments. They feel exhausted and depleted, and the weather is just as dismal, if not worse. Thus, they aren’t able to sustain the change. (Perhaps the physical signs of change aren’t yet visible.) They go looking for proof, don’t see it, and tiredly give up. They went looking for spring, but it isn’t ready yet. It’s a long process, and it’s hard to stay patient.
To me, the nature of winter is similar to that of the cocoon. Western culture finds it difficult to be comfortable with this state of being, because it embodies inaction: on the outside, there is a seeming stillness. Winter is cold – there is a lack of external, dynamic energy. In winter, all appears asleep. And our culture doesn’t value stillness. We are encouraged to constantly do more, work harder, keep moving, no matter what is happening on the inside.
Read MoreLife can certainly be complicated sometimes. We have the capacity to know and learn so much, but sorting through the information available to us is its own particular challenge. We long for that one clear voice that stands out, ringing like a bell from amidst a clamoring, chattering room of dissonant voices. The one that says, Here is what you need to know. Here is what’s indisputably true. Just know this one thing, these few simple things, and you will have your answer. You will have the peace of mind you seek.
There is no denying that we can never completely escape the quantum complexity that can make life and decision-making so incredibly challenging. We can’t be certain how to navigate conflict in a relationship, what to choose as a major in college, or even figure out which toothpaste brand to buy. There are so many choices—so many directions to take!
Read MoreNovember has thus far been a beautiful opportunity to release into yin energy state, which is very much the opposite of my instinctive tendency to fill my life as full as possible with pursuits and activities, fearing always that if I am not creating then I am doing nothing meaningful, that if I do not stay active and engaged, I am losing invaluable opportunities which may never come again. That I can't ever take a break because I will miss something critical.
I am turning away from that more and more as I realize that my need to heal, and that it, me, the act of becoming, is more important, and that ceaseless frenzy of energy I have been trying to engage and output runs counter to my personal needs right now.
Releasing, stepping away - it is so difficult, because our culture does not encourage it. We are encouraged to fill our lives fully with activity, from working all day to binge watching television at night as we reach out unconsciously for food and drink to fill our bodies. When stressed, there is a pill to take or a tea to drink. Even meditation is a "thing" to try. A skill to learn. These learned ways of processing our world are shaped through the values our culture espouses and spreads from generation to generation, person to person, all enshrined in the lush promise of commodities and possessions: That we must seek them, must seek fullness. We are afraid of being without.
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