Dark times are not the worst times. They are the waiting times. Of course we all want clarity. We want certainty. We like vision and clear purpose. We prefer action…but sometimes we don’t know how to go forward. There is some invisible force it seems that is holding us back.
When we meet a challenge that seems to block us, it is a message. There is language in the block we are experiencing. When we meet such a challenge that sits in our own particular path, we feel confused, foggy, fearful or anxious.
Displacement activity is the favourite way of dealing with blocks. We each develop our own methods that are so effective that often we forget this is displacement activity at all. It feels really important. We might busy ourselves with other people’s tasks, or comfort ourselves with other people’s problems – because it can be a comfort to worry about someone else and perhaps see ourselves reflected as a saviour or an angel in their eyes. But the fog of our own darkness doesn’t go away. We still feel uncertain, disabled in some way.
When we look at the thing that frightens us most, it can feel very dark. But when we take the time to look inside and explore the heart of our fear, it is painful, but it is not so bad, it turns out, as not exploring our fear. And in focusing our attention on it, we find a key to the the way through. Our blocks are inviting us to overcome them and grow.
Break through
Take the time to focus on the thing that you least want to do, or to say, or to see, or to happen. Put it squarely in your mind’s eye and let the picture settle until it turns into the worst that it can be for you. You will feel some reaction in your body. This is your body beginning to speak. Identify where the reaction is and you are already beginning to find the way through.
How your body speaks
If you feel the reaction in your base, your bowels, your bones, your legs, hips or feet, the challenge you are facing threatens your sense of security. Your view of what you need to be secure began at birth, if not before and is strongly influenced by your relationship with your mother. When you see this, can your adult self present another scenario of security which in the place you are now you find acceptable? You are not bound to stay with your esrly impressions of what is ‘safe’. You are here to evolve.
If the physical reaction is in your lower belly, your reaction to the challenge is to do with your childish view of yourself and the way you responded to your environment as a small child. Consider how this action you are contemplating uncovers the vulnerabilities of your childish self. Once you have a view on this, allow your adult self to propose a solution that would be acceptable to the child within you. Cut the child some slack. Do you fear rejection for being yourself?
A reaction in your stomach indicates that your self image is challenged by this action you fear. Something is stirring beneath a firm image of yourself that you have adopted to keep yourself safe. You might feel anger in an attempt to fend off a challenge that you feel undermines you. Consider, would it be possible to have another ‘self identity’? Imagine yourself in another’s shoes. Imagine how it would be to be someone you admire. Now imagine being someone you pity. Imagine being someone you dislike. Imagine being someone you are jealous of. This is an interesting journey. Now come back to being yourself and contemplete the challengs you face again. You will know how to take action.
Most, if not all, fears will dissolve in one of these ways, and as they dissolve they will undo barriers that have been silently blocking your way. Give yourself the courage to go forward. Failure is also possible. But failure is not the end. Just the beginning of the way through.