Lights in the Dark

Both of these candles were the same size and have burned the same amount of time.

The candle on the right had an air pocket in the wax.

After a sputtering, explosive shower of hot wax, it was suddenly half the size of its peer.

There was a hidden, unacknowledged, unknown secret that, when it finally hit the air, reduced this light to half of what it once was.

For a moment, the entire core was exposed before the rapidly cooling wax created a shield and new container.

How many times in life are we reduced after an explosion of something repressed inside us? How many times have we made terrible mistakes in our judgement when hijacked by these angry, needy, lonely, sad, betrayed and unacknowledged parts of us?

It's likely happened to all of us. A condition of being human. A hazard of the job. These explosions are a symptom, they are the language of the psyche that is in pain.

Can we turn towards these parts of ourselves and hear what they have to say? Can we find love and compassion for these explosive, raw, unskillful, dangerous and needy parts of ourselves? The parts that carry our rage? Our hunger? Our fear?

The longer I live on this earth, the more convinced I become that this is the way forward. And to avoid this work is to risk burning everything to the ground, personally and collectively.

May we have the courage to love even our most hidden secret selves.