The Dark Night of the Soul
I’ve been talking to a lot of people recently about the various shifts and movements over the past four months…and wow so many of us are aware of something happening both within ourselves but also amongst the greater collective. I myself have been journeying through hills and valleys, feeling immensely full of love and light and then incredibly sad, lost, and disconnected. I have been feeling exhausted, sensitive, and as of recently, I have been craving distraction. So what does this all mean? What is happening, and more importantly, what do I want to create?
Well, in this time of trial and empowerment, I need to practice Self-Care, I want to practice Self compassion, and provide both myself and others with patience. Nourishing my body with movement, healthy food and ample hydration is important for my physical functioning, so I may explore my emotional health and spiritual strength in yoga, meditation, and sacred practice. In these more challenging times, I want to remind you that it is okay to put yourself first. It is okay to say “No” – actually, it is more than okay, it is AMAZING to say “No”. And, if you need help with committing to a new You Routine, then ask a friend or partner to be your accountability pillar. Plan out times in your weekly schedule for movement and healthy meals, and organize check-ins with your accountability pillar. Set yourself up to succeed!
Below I attached a post from the wise Madisyn Taylor from Daily OM. This passage brought me self-compassion this morning as I read about the Dark Night of the Soul. It felt incredibly relieving to read, “It is from this place of losing our sense of ourselves as in control that the ego begins to crack or soften and the possibility of light entering becomes real. “ There is always hope. There is always a choice. And, there is always light where there is darkness. I just have to be willing and invite vulnerability so that my perspective may reveal to me the light peeking through.
Dark Night of the Soul
While we are in a dark night of the soul experience, hold steady knowing the light will appear once again.
Whenever a word is overused, it is most likely being misused, and over time, it begins to lose its meaningfulness. For example, we often refer to a fleeting feeling of depression or a period of confusion, as a dark night of the soul, but neither of these things qualifies as such. A dark night of the soul is a very specific experience that some people encounter on their spiritual journeys. There are people who never encounter a dark night of the soul, but others must endure this as part of the process of breaking through to the dawn of higher consciousness.
The dark night of the soul invites us to fully recognize the confines of our egos’ identity. We may feel as if we are trapped in a prison that affords us no access to light or the outside. We are coming from a place of higher knowing, and we may have spent a lot of time and energy reaching toward the light of higher consciousness. This is why the dark night has such a quality of despair: We are suddenly shut off from what we thought we had realized and the emotional pain is very real. We may even begin to feel that it was all an illusion and that we are lost forever in this darkness. The more we struggle, the darker things get, until finally we surrender to our not knowing what to do, how to think, where to turn. It is from this place of losing our sense of ourselves as in control that the ego begins to crack or soften and the possibility of light entering becomes real.
Some of us will have to endure this process only once in our lives, while others may have to go through it many times. The great revelation of the dark night is the releasing of our old, false identity. We finally give up believing in this false self and thus become capable of owning and embracing the light.
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If you feel moved to share you experience or perspective, please join me in community and spread your word. This is a place to be heard, to listen, and to expand our collective experience. As humans, it is part of our destiny to share story.
Love and Light,
N