Fallen Tree

If a tree falls in a woods and there is no one to hear does it make a sound?  Does a sound need a receiver to exist?  As I struggle with self, existential existence, and pain I realize that when I express myself to another nonjudgmental being I feel I am heard and validated.

Words spoken in such a situation allows me to reach out to and through the darkness that holds me fast.  In that moment I begin to move toward the light. If others need to rationalize my feelings, explain them to, or argue with me I recede further away from them, their words and explanations.  It is only in their attentive willingness to hear that allows me to breathe deeply as I move toward the light.

I have always believed this to be true but I now know that it is true.  The knowing comes through the repeated experiences with the acceptance of being unconditionally heard and accepted where I am.

In this awareness I become real.
   


Sometimes the darkness wins
As I slip from the light
Into a deep, dark abyss
Some say this is
A dark night of soul
It’s hard to judge from inside
I cannot see my way
Beyond where I am
It is all encompassing
Wraps closely around
Me and is All
I see, feel, breathe…
The light gets in
When I reach out
And choose to
Create more love
Within me and with
All other beings
The light enters
This dark place
Shrinks through
My care in thought
Optimism in action
A sliver of light enters
Through the crack
In this dark well of self
Compassion and kindness
Seep in replacing
The fear and dread
This sliver encourages  
The darkness recedes – a bit
This dark night
Gives pause to me
As I rethink my way
Through this place
Knowing that this
Dark place of self
Always lingers near-by
A teacher to remembering
To not fear plumbing
The depths of
My deepest, darkest
Self ….
~PSG~ 2/3/15