Scared or Sacred?
Whether it be professional or personal I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been scared and the moments I felt so uncomfortable I could get physically sick. Feeling scared is going to be a part of life but I didn't realize on November 3rd I was about to get an important lesson on feeling scared.
There I was leading Creative Transformation: Enter into Silence workshop at Dominican Center and at the end of the experience I gave a reflection prompt sharing with the participants to pay attention to where your eye is drawn towards within the community piece and to reflect on it and what it is trying to say to you. As those participants were having their reflection I joined in.
My eye kept going towards the word "Nearness" sitting on top of a pinecone touching a branch and some pine needles. While I continued to look all around nearness I started to smile and thought Nearness would be laughing at me, I don't want to get close to nearness-now that's funny.
I then thought I better listen to Nearness and what it is trying to tell me.
Nearness had quite a bit to say we shared a conversation about how getting close can induce feeling scared because of hurt. As I read this in my mind my eyes played tricks on me and I read the word "sacred" and thought that didn't make sense. I re-read it and realized I wrote the word "scared" and had read it incorrectly earlier.
For the first time I noticed scared and sacred have the same exact letters in them, just in a different order from one another.
More reflection followed:
I started to think of all the things that have scared me, relationships, starting a practice, situations, etc. and I realized those things that have scared me also have become some of the most sacred things in my life. Through them within myself I found courage, bravery, empathy, love, connection, belief in myself, what I thought was impossible for me, etc. I realized all the things I was putting off this past year or even four years that scared me was because of the potential hurt, the up hill battle I was expecting and struggle to follow and then I realized these things could also become some of the most sacred things in my life. The following two days I jumped in, I said yes and started to take on all those things that once scared me because something that has the potential to be the most sacred things in life are worth trying for.
So-
Be Courageous
Be Brave
Be Passionate
Be Dedicated
and
Be Scared
It's these things make up a life worth living. Without these things where would you be, where would our world be?
And within that I'm not saying you may not get hurt but I hope you discover some things that become the most sacred aspects of your life. Through being scared sacred can also exist.
Author: Leara Glinzak, ATR, MSAT is Owner and Registered Art Therapist of I Light LLC in Grand Rapids, MI and specializes in Grief, Trauma, Distress, Anxiety, Addiction. Dementia and end of life. She has been published in the peer reviewed Journal of the American Art Therapy Association and has presented locally and nationally. You can read more about her on Psychology Today.
