Rising Within Yourself

Feelings of anxiousness or fear may feel heavier to us. A physical weight. A net of emotions taking up space inside of our body. This anxiety or fear may even resemble a box of things that get shuffled from one place to the next as you grow older and lead a transient life until finding your home base.

Once you have found your home base, you may not feel ready to acknowledge that this box has been with you all these years. You may feel unprepared to open the box and sift through the items because of the memories they bring to the surface. Memories that used to feel familiar or nostalgic may now evoke a completely different feeling in you. A feeling of fear because you don’t know how you will respond to holding the item in your hands. A feeling of nervousness because this item may no longer fit in your home base, physically or emotionally. And now you feel like you are back to square one. Feeling uncertain what to do next, how to feel, how to proceed.

Instead of putting the item back in the box, what if I named it with a sense of equanimity? What if I asked questions of it as if I were getting to know it as a friend? What if I honored the feelings of uncertainty or nervousness with compassion? Perhaps they actually need to take up space? Perhaps they seek my attention to reveal something about myself or my memory that was cast aside years ago? They may even say, “Hi, Friend. I know that you have been running and that is okay. What if we slowed down enough to simply be and slowly learn from one another? What if this is the start of a new you?”

Feelings of anxiousness or fear, may we be each other’s guide into the unknown. May we give each other space to co-exist and collaborate so we can rise into a more grounded and confident version of ourselves.