25 Jan 21
Permission to be okay with not being okay
It sounds cliché to say this, but: where did January go? A month which is often experienced as one full of newness and possibility, still seems to be tethered a little too tightly to the year that passed, and with the cloud of Covid still hanging in the air, the familiar hallmarks of a new year, seem nowhere to be found.
If we allow ourselves a moment to consider what the emotions might be pointing us to, and allow them to be part of our human experience, we can begin to have them versus the emotions having us. Charles Darwin believed that difficult emotions are core to our ability to adapt and thrive in the world. Let them remind you of what you value, who you love and what you have to be grateful for. Breathe deeply in and deeply out, and remember that this too shall pass.
The last few verses of Rumi’s poem The Guest House is a beautiful invitation: “The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”