The Way It Is
There’s a thread you follow. It
goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t
change.
People wonder about what you are
pursuing.
You have to explain about the
thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get
lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get
old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s
unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the
thread.
~ William Stafford ~
In my last blog I described one way to experiment with
changing the lens through which we view our lives. Simply by changing our language we can turn humdrum
stories of slogging through our days transforming ourselves into heroic
characters and warriors, ever at the ready to meet the challenges life offers. Thus, we become the stars of our lives just by
changing our frame of reference.
Today we turn our attention from actions to the qualities
that hold us, especially those that we reach out for when holding ourselves
isn’t quite enough. My teacher, T. Thorn Coyle named it our ‘Through Line’ and
we sought it while mapping our lives and paying attention to what was always
‘there’ when we needed it. Or as William Stafford so eloquently says, “It goes among/
things that
change. But it doesn’t change.”
Now when I work with it with clients and students, we might journey
back through our lives, stopping at important events, the turning points, and
noticing what was there for us. What carries
us through? Is there a quality or a set
of qualities, an experience or set of experiences that have always been
available when the going got tough? What
are the parts of ourselves that might fade into the background, reemerging when
we need them the most?
For one person their Through Line may be their fierce,
strong heart. For another it may be a
powerful sense of humor or perhaps a deep knowing that they have always landed
on their feet. Perhaps you have touched
a solid core of strength that sometimes hides under a veneer of fragility. Or maybe you find your way back home to yourself
walking along the hills or through the forest.
Or perhaps you find your strength through the hard work of digging in
the earth or a long bicycle ride. While
someone else needs the wind and waves and fresh salt air blowing in from the
ocean.
Whatever it is, call upon your memory and ask it to open. Ask it to show how it was that you moved through
hard times past. Ask in your heart and
ask in your belly. Look for your unique
answer in dreamtime or in the liminal time between waking and sleeping. Ask in your journal or when scribbling with
wordless color or shining image. And know
that as you ask, the answer will come.
Ask and then listen, watch, and open to the wisdom that
lives within you. Pay attention to
however your answers may appear. And
then honor them. For each of us has a
‘through line’, a thread that is available whenever we reach for it.
What
is that thread for you?
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