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OWNING
THE DARK AND THE LIGHT
"Strangely
enough we strengthen love in ourselves when we raise into consciousness
the shadow side of our lives."
--
Elizabeth O'Connor
Hello
everyone,
Zen
master Diane Musho Hamilton believes that we contribute most to the
world when we are deeply at home inside ourselves.
To
be at peace inside, we must deal with our shadow. We are all familiar
with the demon shadow -- the aspects of our nature that we don't want
to claim as ours. The path to empowerment requires that we own our dark
parts. If we haven't, we'll see them everywhere around us but we won't
acknowledge they live inside us too.
Diane
believes we women have as much work to do around our shadow as men have
to do around theirs. Let's acknowledge, for example, that women can be
competitive, confused, aggressive and intoxicated with power. It's our
spiritual work now to face up to whatever it is we find unacceptable.
Let's
also not forget what Diane calls the golden shadow -- the angels, the
unrealized potentials we're all holding but don't identify as ours. We
need to own how beautiful, how radiant we are. We need to own that we
are vessels of wisdom with lots to give. Spiritual practices like
meditation and yoga help us bring those innate golden qualities into
expression.
When
we go deeply into our experience, we realize the angels and demons are
both fundamental qualities of being human. When we acknowledge this, we
can take better care of ourselves and others.
~
Patrice
P.S.
A few weeks ago, I shared Barbara Marx Hubbard's perspective that women
hold the power of both procreation and co-creation. Jan Groenemann has
painted a beautiful image that expresses this superbly. She calls it
'Bringing Forth.' Have a peek.
"Love
for myself comes into being only when I accept and experience my
feelings as they are, at this very moment, both pleasant and
unpleasant. As I welcome my painful self, it heals. Loving myself
provides the power for transformation."
--
John Ruskan
To
participate in the Women on the Edge of Evolution series, visit http://www.womenontheedgeofevolution.com
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