be the witness
I met a wonderful woman at the Heartbeat 5 Rhythms workshop last month.
She was tall and beautiful and elegant. She seemed so confident, as if she had done this movement mediation for years.
I had the priveledge of being with her for an exercise where we shared why we were at the workshop, what brought us there.
It was no surprise that we were partners, as we shared many things in common and mirrored each other's feelings of how we felt and what we wanted to become.
The next day, she recounted such a lovely story to me. While in town, visiting from NYC, she was staying with Family. We had a particularly emotional day at the workshop and all she wanted to do was write in her journal and process her experience in peace and quiet. And yet, life had another agenda for her. She was plopped down unexpectedly in the middle of a large family gathering. The celebration was wild and rowdy as her brother announced his engagement. See was seething as she tried to tolerate the experience while choking down the anger accumulated deep in her bones from many years past. She writhed and struggled to stay present. And, she didnt want to revert to the phony family role she was used to playing. It was time for new, authentic, honest way of being. And then, realization struck. She could be in it all, but not of it. She could be the witness of it all, watching herself as an objective observer who has no emotional attachment. Simply seeing with the clarity of someone who has no investment in the outcome. And then, she was able to see and let go. Liberation.
How many times have I myself spiraled down into the abyss of absorbtion of my own self-centered mess. Caught in the web of "them" and "it" and "anger" and "sadness". Learning how to see and feel, without getting tossed away. Being a part of it all without being separate or superior. Or inferior.
Being the witness of our own lives. Allowing everyone to just be.
That is the gift we can give to ourselves when we become the witness of our own lives.
copyright 2009 Alisa Barry
She was tall and beautiful and elegant. She seemed so confident, as if she had done this movement mediation for years.
I had the priveledge of being with her for an exercise where we shared why we were at the workshop, what brought us there.
It was no surprise that we were partners, as we shared many things in common and mirrored each other's feelings of how we felt and what we wanted to become.
The next day, she recounted such a lovely story to me. While in town, visiting from NYC, she was staying with Family. We had a particularly emotional day at the workshop and all she wanted to do was write in her journal and process her experience in peace and quiet. And yet, life had another agenda for her. She was plopped down unexpectedly in the middle of a large family gathering. The celebration was wild and rowdy as her brother announced his engagement. See was seething as she tried to tolerate the experience while choking down the anger accumulated deep in her bones from many years past. She writhed and struggled to stay present. And, she didnt want to revert to the phony family role she was used to playing. It was time for new, authentic, honest way of being. And then, realization struck. She could be in it all, but not of it. She could be the witness of it all, watching herself as an objective observer who has no emotional attachment. Simply seeing with the clarity of someone who has no investment in the outcome. And then, she was able to see and let go. Liberation.
How many times have I myself spiraled down into the abyss of absorbtion of my own self-centered mess. Caught in the web of "them" and "it" and "anger" and "sadness". Learning how to see and feel, without getting tossed away. Being a part of it all without being separate or superior. Or inferior.
Being the witness of our own lives. Allowing everyone to just be.
That is the gift we can give to ourselves when we become the witness of our own lives.
copyright 2009 Alisa Barry
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posted by Alisa Barry at
12:53 PM
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