Learning to Trust Death

Up until this point, you have failed to realize that you are resisting something inside of you.
Or maybe you are aware of the resistance - but you feel you simply must resist it.

That thing you're resisting -
that emotion
that ideology
that person
or group of people
or point of view
or option
- it owns you, at some level.

"What you resist not only persists but will grow in size."
— Carl Jung

It feels like you can defeat it
if you just resist it long enough, strong enough.
But that only feeds it.

The path forward is not through resisting it,
but through entering into it.

Entering into all the tension
and emotions
and yuck and ick and ughhhhh
that have led to your resisting.

Entering in doesn’t mean yielding
or agreeing or accepting it -
it means accepting the tension
that it brings up in you.
Holding that tension that you have ejected from
or collapsed under
until now.

It will feel like death -
because it is death for your ego,
your ego that defines itself by what it's against.

And when you release that resistance
and enter into that which you've demonized or feared,
you will be certain that all is lost.
There will be a time when you cry,
or grieve,
or feel hopeless
and in the dark.

And then -
maybe,
just maybe,
if all the myths and religions and stories are true -
there will be a moment when some light breaks into that darkness,
the whole world shifts
and you emerge from the tomb after three days.

You are still you,
but also somehow new and different.
A little less afraid of death
and a bit more trusting of whatever is behind this whole Thing.

And things will begin to shift in you
because you’re no longer locked in a binary resistance.
You’ve gone into it
and come out of it
(or maybe through it)
((or maybe it through you))

Dancing will come more naturally
because the energy is flowing again.
Your steps will be a bit lighter
because your body carries less weight.
Ideas will flow more quickly
because there's more space for them.
Fear will seem more transparent
because you've seen through its illusion.
Presence will become the norm
because there's nothing in this moment to run from anymore.

But don't take my word for it.
See for yourself:
Let go of that resistance, friend.

I hope to dance with you on the other side.