We have to view darkness with greater respect, and learn to appreciate not only its capacity for destruction, but it's capacity for vitality, growth, and transformation - David Tracey
Planting seeds. I have never done this before, but tonight I decided to make a little vision board for the transformation, vitality, and growth that I want to witness. I am in a suitable place in my life to grow an entire new garden. I am also mindful to take into great consideration the parts of me that I have tried to suppress in the past. I am giving my shadows the respect that they deserve. An example: vanity - or my personal stigma and struggle with the idea of vanity. On a core level, I don't believe there's anything wrong with desiring certain materialistic things, or dipping your feet into a certain kind of indulgence i.e fashion, expensive dining, and so forth - I certainly am very accepting of it in other people, and even view it was an expression of oneself - why not myself. I find that I hold myself up to some unrealistic standard, and am hard on myself for certain types of behavior that I barely observe in others. I am not holier than thou, and must stray away from those tendencies and notions within myself.
"Our civilization is courting disaster. By refusing to accept that the human psyche is complex and paradoxical, we have no way of reconciling the opposing forces that gather momentum in our psychic interior. By clinging to ideals of goodness, by assuming we can remain innocent, we have no way of integrating the dark and ambivalent." - David Tracey
All of what I am reading right now from a book that Lionda gifted me with in Bali is speaking loud and clear, and I sense that the timing is immaculate. These concepts that David Tracey touches on is the foundation upon which I built this blog - the idea that we are not one sided, the idea that we are fragmented and dualistic. In the yoga community [which is clearly something that rattles me, as I frequently return to this subject] we seem to repress the dark side of us, the beast, the monster, the shadows, the artist, whatever you may call it, and hyper-focus on the "light." However, I genuinely believe that if we neglect the "dark" parts of ourselves, we will be destroyed by outbursts of irrationality and unreason. We need to understand the forces that arise in ourselves. That is why I continue to challenge myself to be sincere and open, not just about my triumphs but also about my trials and tribulations. I am whole, but my whole is mosaicked, diverse. And I want to create a framework where all parts of me are invited, explored, understood, transformed, elevated - never suppressed, ignored, or misguided.
"Our time requires a fundamental rebirth of the dark side as cosmic principle and not merely as a nuisance to be expunged." - David Tracey
