Welcome to the Danger Zone

“Look on the bright side” ‘they’ say, “be positive” ‘they’ say, “think only good thoughts” ‘they’ say…..did you ever wonder who was this ‘they’ anyway?  Does ‘they’ know what’s happening TO ME right now!?  What does ‘they’ do when ‘they’ lose their job, lose their father, get injured in an accident, get diagnosed with terminal cancer, get divorced, lose custody of their children, or watch a loved one suffer from addiction.  Does ‘they’ really, “look on the bright side?”

Well, I want to invite ‘they’ with me to flip the script.  I want to invite ‘they’ and ‘y’all’ to “look on the dark side.”  To venture over to this so called danger zone marked with rolls of yellow WARNING tape.  What happens when we cross over into this taboo, prohibited area so foreign and forbidding to us?  What happens when we dare to look cancer in the face, or stare divorce dead in the eye?

There is a possibility we might melt.  We might shrivel up and leave only our broomsticks to remain, or in our case, our yoga mats.

But let’s say we took that chance to melt, and we looked so deeply into the dark side, that our eyes slowly started to adjust, and we could begin to make out some blurry distinctions.  And what if these distinctions taking form, turned out to be other human beings, sitting alone, cold and trembling in the dark?

What if you could hold your hand out to your fellow brother or sister and lift them up, wrap them in warm a blanket and a gentle hug?  

What if I told you that there is NO guarantee that death or cancer or divorce or heartbreak or despair will EVER make sense.  But that what I COULD guarantee you, is that by facing the dark, you WILL give courage to others, to do the same, to face their own darkness.  You WILL inspire a friend to keep going even when they think they can’t, you WILL be the single connection to another soul that feels utterly alone, you WILL literally lift another human being back to the light because you dared to SEE them in THEIR dark.

I don’t think it’s possible for life to be one or the other, light or dark.  I think it’s light and dark and every shade in-between.  I think it’s got stripes and solids and polka dots and plaid and neon fishnet.  I think that we must dare to expose ourselves as ourselves, because only in that risk, do we find the reward of connecting to a very powerful source of light, our fellow human being.  

And don’t you worry, if you do melt, I will take care of your yoga mat.

You are Beautiful. You are Whole. You are Enough. -Andrea Dawn