#jefffoster

One of the most dangerous myths we have inherited from our superficial culture is that healing is always supposed to ‘feel good’.

No. Sometimes our discomfort actually intensifies as darkness emerges into light, as unconscious material makes its way into present awareness, as our old illusions burn up in a fever of healing.

Perhaps our discomfort is not wrong, a mistake, or a sign that we have lost our healing path. Remember, the presence of pain today may actually indicate that our healing process is intensifying, not stalling; that we are actually more awake and sensitive than ever now, less numb, less willing to turn away, more in touch with our sacred vulnerability.

There is such a tendency in our culture to avoid discomfort of any kind, distract ourselves from it, label it as 'wrong’ or 'negative’ or even ‘unspiritual’, meditate or medicate it away. Much of our Western medicine is geared towards the removal of symptoms, the silencing of disruption, the numbing of chaos and the journey towards some socially acceptable 'normality’.

But sometimes, friends, we no longer have any interest in 'returning to normal’! The 'normal’ was the problem, not the solution! The status quo needed to shift. It was unstable and false. Our old conception of reality was keeping us trapped and we needed to break free! Sometimes a deadening and soul-destroying 'normality’ needs to shatter into chaos and crisis; our pain and sorrow, frustration, exhaustion, fear and doubts need to be felt more fully than ever before, and the heart needs to break open more completely.

So let the winds blow, let the tempests rage, let all that is false be purified, let all that is dead remain dead, let life explode where you are! You are only being invited now to a deeper healing, friend, even though it feels like you’re getting 'worse’, even though the heart is tender and raw, even though you cannot yet feel your tomorrows!

Soon you will rise like a phoenix!

So beautiful. I’ve loved this poem for years and will love it for years to come.  

TO THE SENSITIVE ONES...

Do not be ashamed of your sensitivity! It has brought you many riches.

You see what others cannot see, Feel what others are ashamed to feel. You are more open, less numb.

You find it harder to turn a blind eye.

You have not closed your heart, in spite of everything.

You are able to hold the most intense highs and the darkest lows in your loving embrace. (You know that neither define you. Everything passes through. You are a cosmic vessel.)

Celebrate your sensitivity! It has kept you flexible and open. You have remained close to wonder. And awareness burns brightly in you.

Don't compare yourself with others. Don't expect them to understand. But teach them:

It’s okay to feel, deeply. It’s okay to not know. It’s okay to play on the raw edge of life.

Life may seem ‘harder’ for you at times, And often you are close to overwhelm.

But it’s harder still to repress your overwhelming gifts.

Sensitive ones, Bring some gentleness into this weary world!

Shine on with courageous sensitivity!

You are the light bearers!