Naming Our Experience

Challenges are a part of life. If we resist them, we suffer. And if we open to them, they open us and bring us treasures. There is no accident that the treasures in all of our great myths are hidden in difficult places.

Here is a favorite poem of mine by a favorite writer that speaks exactly to what we were exploring

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
And find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
And is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
–Wendell Berry

One very practical skill when dealing with the storms that move through us around our challenges is to name our experience. When we name it, we are relating to it rather than being lost in it.

If we are experiencing depression, we can say “depression is here” instead of “I am depressed.” But it can also be very helpful to give it a different name.  Words like “depression” have so much loaded into them.  If we understand that this state is keeping us distracted from what we are truly experiencing, we could call it “the guardian.” As we simply acknowledge this guardian and get to know it – first by noticing the physical sensations that come with it – it will eventually open up and let us meet what it has been taking care of.

So the invitation is to live in the question “What are you taking care of?” whenever we notice that we are wanting to escape from a challenge into a compulsion – be it food, TV, internet surfing, alcohol, or shopping.