Hello and welcome to today's practice.
When we notice our lives from a distance,
We see it as a constant stream of experiences.
And our humanness bathes in this river of stimuli.
As a result,
We feel many things as we go through our days.
Some days are joyous and some days bring dark clouds with it.
And when we are in one of those dark days,
And when the doubt has allowed a voice,
It becomes hard to believe our feet are on the ground,
And the world is a warm place,
And that life is beautiful.
Everything weighs heavy,
Dreams feel futile,
And nothing brings brightness to passing moments.
This can be a hard and endless state of being,
Leaving us in despair and face to face with a human fragility which is not our ego's favorite channel to watch.
So what do we do when we have an unexpected visitor from the darkness?
Our first instinct,
Ease the distraction.
Then we deny,
Try to diminish the feeling altogether.
Yes,
It works for a time,
And some respite may be found.
But feelings are nothing but energy and energy doesn't disappear.
It just changes form.
And thus the darkness returns eventually,
Seeking an audience with us in different forms until we have developed the heart and the bone to sit with it in dialogue.
No matter how much we avoid this face-off is inevitable and in doing it just makes the final encounter that much more intense.
We learn this truth when we have lived through these dark nights of sorrow a few times.
When we hear the knock of this dark passenger,
There's no point avoiding him or wishing he goes away.
So open the door and let him in.
He'll come stomping in,
Always heavy-footed on his arrival.
Once you've welcomed him in,
Seated him,
And treated him to a few deep breaths,
He unravels.
And you will find out that he is usually sad or scared.
And seeing him like this will undoubtedly melt your heart.
He appears like a little child.
Yes,
Sometimes he can be angry,
But who can blame a little child if he gets angry and protects himself from the helpless state he finds himself?
What has helped me is something that I learned from years of such visits from the dark passenger,
Is to be a loving,
Patient parent who speaks kindly,
Soothingly to this scared child.
Reassuring it,
Holding it,
And sitting with it until its breathing returns to a natural rhythm.
Is something that I have learned to do.
When he's consoled,
He changes form.
He becomes steady,
Soft,
And strong.
Like a revived soldier ready for the next part of life and this moves forward.
In a cyclical manner.
It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last time.
You will hear from your dog passenger and with each visit you see If you see and listen with openness,
There is a great deal to learn from him.
For he's a master shapeshifter,
A trickster,
A magician.
Despite his dark demeanor,
He is a well of wisdom.
And if we descend with curiosity into his depths,
We come back up with nuggets of gold that enriches our lives in a manner that logic may find it hard to explain.
I hope.
The next time the dark passenger visits you.
You will take a deep breath in,
Hold it.
And exhale long and slow.
And then open that door and invite him in.
Thank you for joining in this practice with me today.
Wishing you safe travels with your dog passenger.
