Sunday
In growing psychologically, one moves toward increasing autonomy and independence. In growing spiritually, one increasingly realizes how utterly dependent one is, on God and on the grace of God that comes through other people.
—Gerald May
Monday
In the most mature stage of spiritual development, I’m “just me,” warts and all. We are now fully detached from our own self-image and living in God’s image of us—which includes and loves both the good and the bad. We experience true serenity and freedom. This is the peace the world cannot give (see John 14:27) and full resting in God.
—Richard Rohr
Tuesday
Resilience isn’t really about returning back to the way you were before, but is much more about reclaiming whatever new shape your form has taken. A resilience that doesn’t really ask us to forget, but that carries the memory of whatever harm or whatever fire we’ve been through.
—Cole Arthur Riley
Wednesday
By walking into that pain, experiencing it fully, and moving through it, you metabolize it and put an end to it. In the process, you also grow, create more room in your nervous system for flow and coherence, and build your capacity for further growth.
—Resmaa Menakem
Thursday
Psychology and spirituality come together beautifully to show us that our growth is going somewhere. The trajectory is toward union: union with God/Reality, with the self, with others, and with the cosmos.
—Richard Rohr
Friday
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. Only in this way shall we live without the fatigue of bitterness and the drain of resentment.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
Week Twenty-Five Practice
Softening through the Constriction
Indigenous author and poet Pixie Lighthorse names the conscious care and attention we must give to our wounds in order for them to heal:
Tensile and strong, we are able to do what the Western world loves to praise; that is, we find ourselves “powering through” difficult times. Running on autopilot or superhero strength is always expected … with no regard for what their productivity costs them in health, emotional and spiritual well-being, and intimacy with their loved ones.
Yes, we humans can power through—and it is a most helpful skill when it is used in the short term to get through the immediate tasks at hand. Over long periods, hyper-strengthening has a tightening effect—cutting off the flow of oxygen to whatever within us is still seeking healing.
The tissue is pale at the site where the wound is held, and my body has experienced problems in places like these. Where there is constriction, there is no air or blood flow. Our parts are cut off from the whole, separated and over-protected, if not strangulated.
Breathe deep and long into these areas, bringing conscious awareness into the constricted focal points, warming them with your breath and even physical touch. Let your breath be deep and prolonged over tight areas; this is akin to the act of stretching muscles that have been engaged in heavy lifting, giving them space and the opportunity to repair. Growth happens on the emotional and spiritual level when you work an area and give equal time to relaxing it with the spaciousness of your care and attention.
I allow oxygen to infuse my cells with life force,
breathing into the constricted places in my body
that have grown tight with fear.
Reference:
Pixie Lighthorse, The Wound Makes the Medicine: Remediations for Transforming Heartache (Irvine, CA: Row House Publishing, 2023), 152–153.
Image Credit and Inspiration: Angelo Pantazis, untitled (detail), 2018, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. We continue down our pathways, step by step, through both the drying and the greening seasons.
