STEMS AND ROOTS

“The Love we show saves the Love we hide, the way a sprig in sun feeds its unseen root.”

~ Anonymous

Even though I believe in living in the open, parts of me hide. I can’t help it. But what I can help is which parts of me - the open or the hidden - run my life. What I can rely on is this inexplicable knowing that when I am in the open, life nourishes even those parts so sorely hidden.

Just as green stems in spring stay connected to their darker roots, just as the roots grow when the stems do, my compassion soothes my fear where I can’t see. Unknown to me, my love feeds the underside of my confusion. The light I take in keeps the roots of my soul alive.

We become so preoccupied with what we are not able to address, what we are not able to mend, what we are not able to leave behind, that we forget that whatever we are in the light of day is slowly, but surely, healing the rest of us.

~ Bring to mind one thing you feel incapable of solving in your personality.

~ Surround it with your breath. Accept that it will be with you for a while.

~ Now put it down, and feel the part of you that happens without any work.

~ Inhale strongly with this part of your being, and know that its native strength is softening what you can’t solve.

The Book of Awakening

~ Mark Nepo