THE DAILY SPARK

SEARCH THE DARKNESS

Galaxy of Glow Worms that illuminated the top of the cave - Nile River Caves in Charleston, New Zealand

Sit with your friends; don’t go back to sleep. 

Don’t sink like a fish to the bottom of the sea.

Surge like an ocean, don’t scatter yourself like a storm.

Life’s waters flow from darkness.  Search the darkness, don’t run from it.

Night travelers are full of light, and you are, too; don’t leave this companionship.

Be a wakeful candle in a golden dish, don’t slip into the dirt like quicksilver.

The moon appears for night travelers, be watchful when the moon is full.

Poem by RUMI

REFLECTION:

  • Do you run from darkness?  Try to escape what you fear?
  • What if you could embrace the darkness?
  • Everyone has a dark/shadow side that they often try to repress or hide from others.  Yet RUMI is encouraging us to search the darkness.  Sit with friends and travel companions. 
  • Light awaits.

SUFFERING Vs. FREEDOM

Fear TIMES resistance equals suffering.

Fear TIMES presence equals freedom.

 

Tara Brach

REFLECTION:

  • When you name a fear, it doesn’t have as much control. 
  • When we resist… refuse to accept what is, we suffer.
  • When we become present … accept – “it is what it is” there is a path to freedom.
  • What are you resisting?  
  • How can you presence this situation and open the door to a new freedom.

THE THINKING MIND

The worst things in my life never happened.

Cave and rafting adventure in Paparoa National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island

Quote by Mark Twain

REFLECTION:

  • Fear is an intelligent emotion that has a very important role in our survival.  It is when it takes over that we can’t fully live… we can’t express… we can’t create. Like Mark Twain says, the worst things never happened yet we spend time and energy wasted on scenarios that never happen. 
  • What are you believing when you are in fear?
  • Is there something that is stealing your ‘now?’
  • Stop… breathe and release the tension of what may never be around the corner.