Friends, in sitting down to write this letter, it was hard to know where to start. Some pithy stay positive letter seemed untrue and a little tone deaf. There is no smooth or easy path right now. The world is rife with conflict. As I read the news, I am both shocked and enraged at what is happening politically. I feel anger, overwhelm, and shut down. This mixes with the luminous sunshine and bursting spring flowers, meeting new friends, drawing and creating. At the same time I have the feelings of great possibility and great dread. And this is why opening up John O'Donohue's book Anam Cara to the passage Contradictions as Treasures felt timely.
He speaks of the importance of taking time to listen to and make space for our inner contradictions. That it is vital to allow for these contradictions to come up and be in conversation with one another. The practice of moving towards these opposing forces within our own psyche ultimately give way to a deeper harmony, which gives courage to move towards the deep, dangerous and dark parts of our lives. I want to share with you the entire chapter of his book, but I will focus on this key paragraph:
It is startling that we desperately hold onto what makes us miserable. our own woundedness becomes a source of perverse pleasure and fixes our identity. We do not want to be cured for that would mean moving into the unknown. Often it seems we are destructively addicted to the negative. What we call the negative is often the surface form of contradiction. If we maintain our misery at this surface level, we hold off the initially threatening but ultimately redemptive and healing transfiguration that comes through engaging our inner contradiction. We need to revalue what we consider to be negative. Rilke used to say that difficulty is one of the greatest friends of the soul. - John O' Donohue p. 101 Anam Cara
This wisdom to move towards what is uncomfortable, to embrace what is negative in order to understand and integrate, is powerful medicine not only for our individual lives, but for our collective work together on this planet.
May we not shy away from, but embrace the contradictions and opposing forces in our lives in order to become more courageous in moving into the new and uncharted territory of our lives.
Until next Friday!
Be well, breathe, read, and make some art!
Jen