As we surface from times of confusion and uncertainty – yet before we emerge into rebirth and flow – we often find ourselves passing through an in-between place.
There is a greater transition that is said to occur between the death of this physical form and when new life materializes, but these flashes of in-between are occurring all the time, as death and rebirth co-arise moment-by-moment.
Each dawn the moon falls away, she passes from this world and yields to the solar, who eventually gives way to her form and her grace as the dusk arrives. This entire process occurs not only in the outer world, but within the inner landscape as well. But we must cleanse our perception to attune to this level of unfolding.
This alive middle territory between the darkness and the light is often characterized by a certain kind of heartbreak. A cloud has lifted, but the clarity and the new have not fully taken form. There may be a sense of a rebirth that is pending, but we find ourselves a bit sad about it all. Not a depressing or crushing sadness, but one that is raw and tender, and somehow contains within it the seeds of hope.
I have found this to be a very rich place to explore, creative and life-containing, but an experience that is often overlooked and devalued in our world. Yet this tenderness is a field of aliveness, meaning, and intelligence, if we will learn to mine the jewels buried only there.
Heartbreak has been pathologized in our culture with a rush to replace it with joy, peace, happiness, and certainty. These are all very valid of course but if we abandon the heartbreak along the way, we may not be able to provide the fertile field in which these other states can arise and flower authentically. For allowing our hearts to break is what seems to give rebirth permission to occur.
If met fully and with mercy and honor, validating it as psychic experience of integrity, this shaky falling apart reveals a compassion that is found only in the shards of that brokenness, in the core of those scattered pieces, which we can use to help ourselves and others in ever more wise and creative ways.
Photo by Ivan Karasev
The next book, The Unfolding Heart, will be published by Sounds True in early 2020, details to come
My latest book – The Path Is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You – is now available
The next book, The Unfolding Heart, will be published by Sounds True in early 2020, details to come
My next event:
The Great Befriending: A Five-Day Journey of Self-Love, Deep Rest, and Coming Alive (with Jeff Foster), September 21-26 in Loveland, Colorado
