SoulFood: Darkness.
Darkness is a term we use to describe the absence of light. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. The light we can study, but not darkness. As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.
We enter the darkness to pray as we close our eyes to focus and avoid distractions. It is pulling away from the visions and distractions in the light and focusing the mind and heart on fulfilment. Also, in the dark, our bodies produce a hormone called melatonin, which helps fight diseases, such as breast and prostate cancer.
From the time we are children, we are conditioned into believing that darkness is a scary place, so the moment we step out of our comfort zone into the dark, even if we feel insecure, at least insecurity feels safe because it feels familiar. Insecurity then is a daily baseline emotion, and because it is so familiar, we have no problem keeping it under control.
Most of us operate in low levels of insecurity every day, but when we decide to put something on the line when we take a risk, step out of the known and predictable, and declare that we want to be defined by a vision of our future instead of a memory of our past.
It makes sense that this unknown future is going to feel uncomfortable. The fact that we are no longer in familiar territory only serves to magnify that insecurity.
Now, even though the voice of insecurity has always been there, it is clinging to the known, and in its desperation, it becomes the loudest voice in our heads. The truth is we will never grow unless we face the challenges our darkness presents.
A dark cave is where we emerge from, our hands reluctant in letting entirely go of the stone entrance, letting go of the last comfort we know. If we do, we will be fully embraced by the unknown.
But was that a bad thing? we could always go back, couldn’t we? We feel our hearts race at the prospect of not knowing what′s to come, where to go, and the lack of direction. But how would we move forward if we are afraid of taking the next step?
If we cannot trust our circumstances, things, or events that show up in our life, then we do not trust our darkness; and if we do not trust our darkness, then we do not trust in our light; and if we don’t trust in our light, then we don’t trust in ourselves; and if we don’t trust in ourselves, then we don’t trust in the possibility of a positive future.
We all have weak spots and learning curves. Sometimes when we are following a dream and get close to achieving a milestone, we start dragging our feet. The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. Resistance knows we are about to beat it. It is the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it has got.
Submerged in an ocean of darkness, our hands frantically thrash around, trying to grasp anything, trying to ensure that we are not slowly drowning in this murk. Is this a dream? A nightmare? Or is it a reality? we hear sounds, voices perhaps, and the faint whispers of “SO” and “IF”.
In our minds, dark shapes bounce about, but the darkness obscures all but their crooked outlines. Finally, our hand lands on the cold stone, and our feet plant themselves on solid ground. We are not drowning in a sea of uncertainty anymore.
Everything we create begins with an internal idea, thought, concept, or image, whether it is health, wealth, a relationship, buying a home, writing a book, composing a song, and so on.
However, when external circumstances appear in our lives that are in alignment with that internal vision, we become paralysed by the fear of failure, fear of success, fear of what other people will think, and a host of other reasons.
Rather than continuing to follow the signposts and clues towards the next step, we stop just short of bringing our creation to fruition, when in fact, if we just continued to move deeper and trust in the darkness, we may have found ourselves with a whole host of new possibilities opening before.