Hi Friends:
In recent weeks, I am feeling moved to write more songs and poetry. There is a lot I am processing, observing and concluding about our life on Planet Earth. I observe and I wait for the right time to share. There is no rush to any of this. (I recall reading an interview of beloved Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan who founded the Lilith Fair Music Tours featuring female artists back in the 1990’s. She shared that the writing process often involved about 7 years of gestation and that it is very spiritual in nature. So take your sweet time ladies!) I don’t know if it the transition from Winter to Spring, but these are times of nesting and quiet contemplation for me. This is what my self-care looks like.
What does your self-care look like?
Is it baking, gardening, yoga, cleaning closets, getting bodywork or a long warm bubble bath?
Do you have a self-care practice?
Being present to your process, bearing Witness is the beginning.
Here are my insights about the cycle of innocence, abuse, growth and restoration.
It is titled “Safe, Sound, Special, Smothered.”
Let me know how piece this “lands” for you.
Safe, Sound, Special and Smothered
First, there is the Story.
It begins as a way to feel Safe.
Like a house you live in, crafted with each tell of the Story.
Safe.
It begins with good intentions.
Safe.
Like being wrapped in a warm blanket or shoe laces tied, just right.
Safe.
Then, the Story becomes the Life.
Safe and Sound.
Now the blankets are too much and the laces too tight.
But you are Safe and Sound.
How can you argue with that?
When you are Safe and Sound.
“We weren’t Safe and Sound. But thanks to us, you are. Thanks to us, all thanks to us.”
Now, the story becomes the Self, like a name tag.
So Special.
Victim, Hero, Trickster, Scapegoat.
How did that happen?
Safe, Sound and Special.
Inside you awaken: “I don’t want this specialness. I feel smothered.”
And so, the cage is built, with every telling of the Story.
Now communities spring up around the Story.
This strangling Story.
Safe, Sound, Special, Smothered.
Somewhere inside you, you sense glimpses of what could be.
Or is it what really is?
This illusion, the Story of madness:
Safe, Sound, Special, Smothered.
Part of you screams, “fight this.”
Another soft voice offers, “surrender.”
What answer brings satisfaction, peace and success?
You may already know the answer.
When you sit with a friend and listen deeply, they feel better.
When you sit in mediation and breathe, your body feels better.
When you sit with your pet or infant, you feel better.
When you sit contentedly in nature, the butterfly comes and lands on your shoulder.
Being Present as The Witness.
Don’t you wonder… if our Story exists to relieve suffering,
could simply being more Present to the Story telling be the relief you seek?
© SusanJoy Grieco Empowered Essential You
