If there is any comfort in the struggles we go through in life it’s that we’re not alone. When we are at our darkest hour, in the depths of despair, or when the shaky ground shifts beneath us, we can know one thing for certain, that everyone else is, or has been, in this same boat at one time or another. Our experiences are not new or novel, they are ancient.
The path we are walking now has been walked thousands of times before and it will be walked again after you are I are gone. Does the continuity provide a bit of comfort? I hope it does. The days can get dark and some slumps seem to drag on forever. The voice I’ve found was lost for a very long time. Recovering our authentic soul voice takes patience and practice and surrender is one of the keys.
Suffering, insecurities, and a deluge of feelings such as rage, betrayal, doubt, and shame are all shared experiences that don’t have to isolate us but can rather connect us back to ourselves, our vulnerability, and to the world family. The very things we try to run away from or stuff down are our common ground that can set us free.
Although these are universal motifs our circumstances and the way we experience them are very different. Our reactions to the tidal waves of emotion is personal. There are, however, a few distinct camps our responses end up falling into. We accept and subsist, we violently resist, or we let go and surrender. Remember, surrender is the key. Unfortunately surrender has gotten a bad rap. This kind of surrender – a surrender that helps us recover the truth of who we are – is not giving in or up but a sort of rising from our small wants and limiting perspectives and lifts us into a larger view. And this is exactly what these emotions are meant to awaken within us, a higher ground.
The path of surrender is to keep releasing what we think ought to happen or what we try to manipulate, until we come up against the truth that’s been wanting expression. This is who we really are and we seldom get there without a fight and plenty of tears. This authentic opening to what’s underneath all that incessant chatter and constant forcing brings us into alignment with something larger. A bigger vision, a deeper understanding. And this is where we all come together again, in the slow realization of the larger truth that binds us all through these deep emotional revelations.
Just one step in the direction of our inner truth is all it takes. We begin to step out of subsistence and past resistance and surrender to the reality of what is true for us. One day at a time, one moment at a time, one situation at a time. This is how we make our way through, by being wide awake.
We are never alone in our pain, sorrow, overwhelm, or our joy and elation. We have good company, and most importantly we have ourselves.
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