(A poem by Hafiz)
Tilled ground the soft heart, and words
like these the seeds,
and words like these the water, and
words like these a sun.
Beneath the surface of this game, behind
the veil, all is working on your behalf.
Surely then you will rise up and embrace
what will make you most happy.
He had an incredible insight about his relationship with his daughter. Then I reminded him what it is to be a song-writer:
He writes songs. He practices them. He performs them.
We need to do the same with insights: practice them.
If you ask him and other song writers, they often claim that they didn’t write the songs themselves - the songs were written through them.
Insights also usually show up that way - insights come from somewhere else, but they sit like truth within us.
...Someone says just the right thing, in just the right way, at just the right time.
...We come across a social media post that resonates deeply.
...We read a line in a book, hear a line in a song, see a line spoken in a show...
And it resonates. It’s clear and we feel it. It’s Truth.
Here’s how we often treat insights, though: like a song we want to perform, but one we never practice.
Imagine writing a song from pure insight and inspiration, spoken to you with the light of Grace, then never practicing it. One day you get on stage to perform it, and it doesn't go well.
We do the same with insights.
"I guess the song just wasn’t great!" "I guess it wasn't Truth I felt at all."
Or perhaps you just never practiced it.
I’ve heard it said that insights are a dime a dozen. Said another way, Insights are Cheap.
But insights aren’t cheap - we cheapen insights by not practicing them.
We cheapen them by not honoring them. We cheapen them by forgetting them. We cheapen them by thinking they'll work on us without us being willing to work on them.
We think an insight is one-and-done. A get-it-and-forget-it. Like an enlightenment that just sticks forever.
And if it doesn’t stick, well it just wasn’t truth then, was it?
That’s a myth.
Like a great song, insights need to be practiced, rehearsed, memorized, embodied. Otherwise, it’s just a fleeting experience.
My client? Here’s what he took away from this conversation: unconditional love for his daughter, blessing and wishing her and others well, optimism and hope - they’re practices. They need to be repeated. They need to be worked into the depths of our being.
How do you think we learned to be pessimistic and fearful beings? Getting that repeated all around us. Repeating all that within ourselves.
Insight is a song that needs to be practiced. We can’t expect to live it out loud and on stage when faced with challenges and difficulties - we need to train the mind, the heart, the body (and it's nervous system) to live the truths we know are true.
They’re not one-and-done. They’re songs to be practiced.
Practice on. 🙌
A client of mine in his early 60s was frustrated with his body. He can't run any longer due to pain in his knee.
When we look at our frustrations, we’ve always got great reasons for them.
Reasons for our frustrations are junk food for the soul.
We use our reasons to judge parts of ourselves, others, and the world. And what do they give us? More of the same - a stomach ache and a life that hasn’t improved.
My client was attacking his body with his judgment and frustration. He was drinking the poison of judgment and condemnation, and he somehow expected that to help.
Reasons let us feel justified and right, but we end up feeling crappy about it. Reasons are empty calories.
Then when we’re feeling down, we attempt to make ourselves feel better. We complain to friends and family, we scroll on social media, we watch Netflix or read some fantasy, or we indulge in some actual junk food.
More junk food for the soul.
Those behaviors don’t resolve the underlying source of our problems, they just distract us from them.
I aim to bring a compassionate, open listening to everything my clients share with me. And then we explore what’s said and what’s unsaid, and what’s underneath and energizing it all.
By the end of that brief conversation, my client had fallen in love with his knees. For over 60 years they’ve served him pain-free. They’ve moved him, they’ve supported him, and they did so with just about no acknowledgment or noticing.
His knee pain had transformed from a source of frustration and sadness to a gateway to gratitude and love.
Our conversation tilled the soil of his mind and heart, and he now feeds his garden with gratitude, compassion, and love.
Now that’s some soul food.
Much Love. ❤️
