40 Days of Peace Day Ten
Light shines brightest in the dark
“I will love the light for it shows me the way,
yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
― Og Mandino
““Because there is suffering in your heart, it is possible for you to enter my heart.”
”Because the world is sick, I am sick. Because people suffer, I have to suffer.”
Without suffering, you cannot grow. Without suffering, you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve. Please don’t run away from your suffering. Embrace it and cherish it. ”
A dark night of the soul
I remember hearing this phrase for the first time in my 20’s. I was fighting my way through another period of grief and depression, questioning everything I had been taught, searching for who I was, desperate to fix what was broken in me…. Someone who loved me when bring a light in and help me find my way out, if only to sit on the edge of my cave long enough to know hope again.
One day my dad came into my cave.. and he told me about the “Dark night of the Soul”. Something in me resonated with this phrase and it actually gave me hope. It meant that there was a purpose to what I was feeling and fighting my way through. If it was a “dark night”, that meant there had to be a “light of day”!
When reality collapses, when we loose someone we love, when we go through rebirth… all of these human experiences are connecting us to our Soul path. If we aren’t connected and in alignment with our Soul’s Purpose, these “dark nights” can feel completely void of hope. OR we can recognize this period in our journey when it arises and allow it to strip away lies, our false selves, our mask, and beliefs that no serve speak our truth.
Looking back on all the “dark nights” I’ve lived through I see such beautiful metamorphosis. I wouldn’t know great JOY if I hadn’t also experienced deep sorrow and suffering. I’m actually very grateful for these periods. After all those years of numbing my pain, I am grateful to FEEL life.
There are no magic pills, no bandaids, no quick fixes, no short cuts to your TRUTH. The only way through … is in!
And we’ve all experience this, so fear not!
Perhaps you’ve been stuck in behaviors or old patterns that may have served you then, but they no longer do. Now these behaviors are harmful. You can’t move forward if you’re applying an old formula for a new place in your journey.
ITS TIME TO CHANGE THE FORMULA!!
All REBIRTH requires discomfort, pain or suffering on some level.
If we stayed in our comfort zone, in the same house, in the same job, in the same bedroom with the same comforter, same pictures on the wall… where would the adventure be?? We can get caught up in feeling “safe” and we forget to experience the magic that is our life! We can hold onto our beliefs, our routines, our favorite foods, our same group of friends and same patterns.. and we forget that we’re here to grow, evolve and experience life. We’re made for connections and growth .. just like the roots of the trees.
We’re created to create and expand. Perhaps we forgot we are DIVINE, we’re a connected part of nature in the flow of creation. The tree sheds her bark, the snake shed her skin, the day turns to night and turns to day again. There is a lesson in surrendering to the flow.
If we only see the negative things in the world or in our lives or in relationships… we ignore the relationship with our own shadow. To know and love our shadow is to experience the balance of existence. I am equally light, bubbly, shiny, joyful, fearless warrior AND completely vulnerable, chaotic, unravelled and sad. I feel deeply and I’m connected to all of you, family I know and don’t know. It’s normal for us to feel!
When feelings come up, don’t ignore them. Take time to listen and see what this is signaling in your being, spiritual and physical.
Perspective IS EVERYTHING. Change how your see your experience.
The truth is I am always ENOUGH. I am always WORTHY OF LOVE. I am never alone. I am always full of potential positive possibility! I am always a step away from my own metamorphosis.
I don’t plan on “Arriving” , I plan on expanding in this dance of light and dark. I have lots of dreams and I know that birth takes time, patience, self care, compassion, intention… and at times its gonna’ be uncomfortable and even painful. But it is worth every moment of this Divine experience!
“What if it only appears you are blocked because blocked is the only thing you’ve decided to think about the experience?
What if that which you believe right now is not a block, it’s an opportunity for something only you can imagine? ”
“You’re beautiful because you know your own darkness and still, that alone doesn’t stop you from finding your own light” -R. M. Drake
Journal Time
Dear grief, dear depression, dear darkness, dear negative thought ~habits, …
Thank you for ….
You taught me…
I’m ready to let go of ….
I’m no longer blocking the passage to the beauty and magic that awaits me on the other side of the door. I am ready and grateful.
I am enough. I am loved. I am protected. I am divine.
I am so excited to experience all the good things coming!
I believe in the good things coming.
I believe.
Shams of Tabriz’s 40 Rules of Love