When the chest grips,
When the breath gets shallow,
When the jaw tightens,
When life casts a shadow,
That’s the time, my dear, to take rest.
To hear the soul sing a song of disharmony,
Of climbing a tall peak, of swimming upstream.
The clenching, the closing, is oh so seductive!
It’s familiar, we know it,
It’s validates our need to protect and own it.
And the only way through is the moment of pause,
The moment we remind ourselves what this unenlightenment does,
That separating and severing only tightens the grip further.
That the way to melt the protective armor is to invite it to dinner.
In stillness we find a way to come back,
A way to relax, rest, acknowledge the stack,
Of layers, of self, of needs, of love.
It’s in this vessel, we have the courage to open and be hugged.