Like most of the creatures of creation, we humans go through a periodic molt, except that our molt is an invisible one and because of the lonely invisibility of the transformation, it necessitates a particular form of courage, a courage we are never sure we have in our possession.
Shedding the carapace we have been building so assiduously on the surface, we must by definition give up exactly what we thought was necessary to protect us from further harm.
Words will not convey that vulnerability to others; action is often inappropriate, neither can any evidence be proffered that we will grow beyond the line of our old shell.
We find ourselves in the desert without food, water, or shelter. The frontier occurs in that desert, alone, the events fiery, clothed in a radical language and in a simplicity that frightens us.
In a sense, at crucial and difficult thresholds in our life, the part of us that is most at home is the part of us that for most of the time has no home at all, the part of us that lives outside the normal rules. If we have no familiarity with this outlaw portion of ourselves in the normality of the everyday, then it can be very difficult to bring it to the fore when in the raw times of difficult change it is most needed….
With a healthy outlaw approach, we are outside the laws of predictable cause and effect and inside the intensity of creative originality…We see with the eyes of those who do not quite belong. We are dangerous again, and glad to be so. David Whyte, Crossing theUnknown Sea: Work as Pilgrimage of Identity
What are some of the rituals you practice when going through difficult times?
Wylde Women’s Wisdom: People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
5 Comments
I love this:
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In a sense, at crucial and difficult thresholds in our life, the part of us that is most at home is the part of us that for most of the time has no home at all, the part of us that lives outside the normal rules.”
I am an outsider. It can be difficult and challenging but also incredibly rewarding. We find truth there that is unconnected to who others said we are.
Love your blog posts…..
Thanks for this thoughtful, as always, post, Tammy.
I like the way you described the human condition here, how it is sometimes so difficult to bear it.
My rituals:) I doodle, play the guitar, I drink much water, I go to the hairdresser, dress up and put on lipstick, (lol does that sound shallow to, I swear it’s good for the soul:) I dive into an easy to read crime mystery, play with the cat, a piece of black chocolate is good and sometimes being alone too, and sometimes the opposite..I guess that’s an awful lot of things already on my list:)
Thanks for making me think about it and for being grateful for those rituals,
love
Andrea
Hi Tammy! I read through all the quotes I have collected over the years. There is always something there to uplift or remind me of what is really important and to stop sweating the small stuff.
Difficult times mean an opportunity to learn. It’s hard though!!
It may sound like a ‘pat’ answer, but prayer really is the ritual that’s seen me most often through hard times – even when I’m not exactly sure Who’s listening….
I especially love the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross quote.
Your new site is beautiful, Tammy!
I’ve been walking the outlaw trail a bit over here at The Havens. I had all the coloring pages you sent me sitting around but I just couldn’t color them, I didn’t have time. Then I realized I wasn’t allowing myself to have time. Then I got totally involved in making paper collages, and when I came up for air from that I got out my colored pencils and crayons and played. I posted a couple of (very bad) pictures of the results on my blog. I love what I did with your outlines, and I have to say that the one in colored pencil is delicate and more detailed than the picture indicates. I just loved doing this. I actually found myself in a trance as I was finishing the border around it, and when I finally stood up to put stuff away I realized that I had been so involved in the coloring project I had totally neglected the care my body needed. I about had an accident on my way to the bathroom once I realized what dire straits I had gotten into!
Thank you for nurturing me, Tammy. I find that I did not even realize how much I needed to be nurtured! Blessed be.