Walking Through Shadows

This Sunday, time turns back, as the year moves quietly forward. We surrender an hour to the approaching winter. 

Three or four years ago I wrote the piece below, entitled Musing on the word Dark.

 So much has changed since then, and yet the basic challenges remain similar. Uncertainty is such a difficult place in which to sit- for me, especially so in terms of medical issues. My trade was in medical problem solving, but what if problems can’t be solved… Learning to live alongside the uncertain and uncomfortable is definitely a wearable skill I still have room to grow into. 

Twenty years ago, TEVA was a brand of sandal I wore when we hiked the Grand Canyon. Today TEVA is a brand of medication I take daily to help me to stay mobile at home. 

C’est la vie. 

And I am thankful still. 

Trust and hope are willing companions, when I remember to take their hands, especially on the shadowy parts of the journey. 

 Musings on the word DARK

We are approaching the time of year when the clocks turn back and protracted dark nights seem to swallow daily light in a singular gulp. 

There is also another kind of dark which can try to swallow us- my own experience in recent weeks has called me to navigate this in the form of a patch of persistent ill health.

And so I consider the question;

‘Am I afraid of the dark?’  ( both literal and metaphorical) 

I will unpack my thoughts. 

Dark reduces our capacity to see what lies up ahead and that may induce fear of the unseen and therefore the unknown. This fear of uncertainty sometimes bleeding into a feeling of unsafety. 

The fear of uncertainty is common to the human experience. 

So how can we live alongside this and be okay with it? When we can’t see ahead, our other senses need to engage in order to ease the situation. We need to FEEL into what we know to be true.  And additional steadying forces, whatever they may be, will also help guide us through. We move from living on autopilot into a deliberate, intentional mode and thus we consciously steer through the darkness. This takes effort, resilience and determination. And also trust. Trust in the transient nature of the dark. There is always light to be found. Find it. Even just a sliver is enough to cut open the deepest shadow,  to release that kernel of hope to flourish again. 

Final Photo Credit: The Moon, by my nephew Ádám Young