Bathe
You find yourself moving along a path,
beautiful verdant grassy area
on your way back home.
You feel the sun on your skin
under the clear sunny sky.
All of a sudden, your path meets a river.
It is deep, cold, and scary.
Your body is numb.
On the banks of the river,
you spot your fear wanting to go across.
Your fear cannot swim.
“Anything but this!”, you say to yourself.
Your body trembles. You feel your heart pounding,
sweat dripping onto your eyebrows.
You are reticent. She is too fearful.
You cannot abandon her
for she is a part of you.
If you don’t take her
across the river,
you will be torn in two.
Can you truly leave a part of yourself behind?
Tears threaten. You don’t know what to do,
your body tenses, your muscles cramp.
In the panic, you pause
and remember your resourcefulness.
How to BATHE in your own light.
You remember your breath.
How to be aware.
Taking in some deep breaths,
your breath seeping down your neck
and into your chest.
Your lungs, your inner wings
with millions of alveoli
exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide.
As you take another breath in,
your remember your deep Awareness.
You become aware
of a beam of sunlight
reflecting on the river water.
You realize the absolute
hold of nature’s sustenance,
nurturing you at all times.
You remember
your careful Thinking.
You realize that the fear
has helped you in the past
when you allowed life to fully support you.
You remember your Heart.
Your chest rising and falling
in sync with your breath.
In this moment, you are not judging yourself
or trying to control the situation.
You are accepting
all parts of yourself
just as you are, including the fear.
And you remember
Empathy,
recognizing why you are here in this Earth.
You visualize the embrace of your loved one,
you imagine the twinkling of affection in their eye.
Slowly, you find the strength
to take the fear over your shoulders
and carry her across the river water.
A Johnson
Photo by Mark McGregor, Unsplash
Inspired by:
Rumi, Persian poet
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