I'd like to share a beautiful poem I read recently by Khalil Gibran.
The poem is called Fear.
It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has travelled,
From the peaks of the mountains,
The long winding road crossing forests and villages,
And in front of her she sees an ocean so vast that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean,
Because only then will fear disappear.
Because that's where the river will know it's not about disappearing into the ocean but of becoming the ocean.
I was deeply moved when I heard this the other day whilst listening to another teacher on Insight Timer.
I felt seen and understood.
I'm recovering from breast cancer and I'm now nine months out of treatment and I find I've got a very busy mind.
And there was something in this poem that ticked all the boxes for me.
Somebody asked me the other day if I was back to normal now and in all honesty I wasn't sure quite how to respond to that.
And here in this poem I find the words nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
Maybe you're in recovery from something and maybe you're sensing the power in this poem as well.
The fear,
The trembling.
But I'm also wondering whether,
Because I'm feeling it myself,
That we can tremble in another way with anticipation perhaps.
Anticipation for life going forward.
Life 2.
0 if you like.
Cancer's left me reflecting such a lot on the past,
On my life before cancer and also my life during treatment.
Those mountains that Khalil Gibran talks about,
Those mountains I climbed and they've left me both weakened but also in a way so much stronger.
I don't know what your experience is.
I'm now looking forward into the future and it's a very different future.
One that's filled with possibility and also tinged for the time being with this fear and this trembling.
And I know that the way to embrace the fear is to acknowledge it and to accept it and that's how I move forward and that's how I become one with the ocean.
Because the fear will disappear when I take those risks.
But I'm also aware that there's a lot of push and pull in my life right now.
The exhaustion I feel when I overdo it and also the excitement of a life to be lived.
The need and desire to nourish myself physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally and spiritually but also the need to pace myself.
I absolutely loved reading this poem and I'd love to know how you felt on hearing it.
How did it affect you?
What rose to the surface for you?
I'm looking forward to speaking with you again very soon.
