So,
Let's just take a moment to pause,
Pause with a mindful awareness in terms of how we receive this story,
A myth,
An archetype of a journey.
And how might this archetypal journey relate or resonate with your own?
Have there been times or are there opportunities to turn toward rather than turn away from a shadow,
A journey,
An experience?
Are there times in which you have felt the courage to dive down,
To descend?
What are the things that you might shed?
What are the ways of being that no longer serve you?
What are you ready to let go of?
And with that same courage and perhaps a lightness of letting go,
Might you be able to turn toward your shadow?
What are those places of yourself that perhaps you've seen as faults or shortcomings,
Failures,
Undesired feelings?
What are those parts of yourself that linger in the shadows?
Can you turn toward them?
And in that,
Can you recognize that they are nothing more or less than a part of your humanity?
Can you recognize that all humans have these shadows,
These fears,
This sense of shortcoming,
Feelings of guilt or shame,
Anger,
Frustrations,
Whatever flavor you may choose?
Can you see that you're not alone?
And in that understanding of your,
Our humanity,
Can you turn toward the shadow with care and kindness?
Recognizing this is my suffering.
This is my humanity.
Without judgment,
Can you see this as a part of who you are?
Maybe a place for growth,
Maybe a place for healing,
But without judgment,
Just simply starting with a part of who you are.
And like Persephone,
Without lingering there too long,
Without getting stuck there,
Without parking there,
Can you take that as part of who you are and choose to begin again?
This idea of ascending,
Rising up.
And as you do,
What are the parts of yourself that you want to hold on to,
That you want to reclaim,
That you want to shout out loud?
Is it your compassion?
Is it your care?
Is it your strength?
Is it your courage?
What is it?
What is a unique attribute of you?
And as you emerge to share it with the world,
Who is that person that knows you,
That sees you,
That can meet you eye to eye?
Imagine them,
Picture them.
Picture them reaching a hand toward you,
Lifting you up.
And imagine that joy and that celebration,
Like a springtime.
Flowers and colors and light and sound.
Imagine that reclaiming.
Imagine that wholeness of self in this moment of reemerging to begin again.
Take care of beautiful people.
Be well.
