The Art of Facing Things

This past week I definitely experienced a large wave of emotions– the “Sea of Feelings” was not calm as in the picture above. All the change and transition I have experienced in the last 6 months seemed to hit me very intensely after returning home from my retreat.

Upon reflection, I realize that my retreat was the last huge event on my moving “to-do” list and with that behind me I was finally able to experience the feelings I needed to in order to fully embrace my new life here in Florida.

The practice of mindfulness offers us this insight into ourselves—  so I had been waiting for the waves of grief over leaving loved ones and my home for the last 14 years to hit me and boy did they ever last week. However, there is also a relief and freedom in “feeling the feelings”– not waiting for them, stuffing them down, hiding from them or running from them but just facing them directly.

One of my favorite Mark Nepo passages talks about this beautifully and that is the passage I shared with my students last week on the mat and I will share an excerpt with all of you below. 

The Art of Facing Things– Mark Nepo

Salmon have much to teach us about the art of facing things. In swimming up waterfalls, these remarkable creatures seem to defy gravity. It is an amazing thing to behold. A closer look reveals a wisdom for all beings who want to thrive.  

What the salmon somehow know is how to turn their underside– from center to tail– into the powerful current coming at them, which hits them squarely, and the impact then launches them out and further up the waterfall; to which their reaction is, again, to turn their underside back into the powerful current that, of course, again hits them squarely; and this successive impact launches them further out and up the waterfall. Their leaning into what they face bounces them further and further along their unlikely journey.