here she comes!....
One of the most comforting images of death was something I read years ago. I wish I could remember by whom so I could give a public thank you. It was something like…
Death is like being on a ship, leaving one shore where
there are tears and sadness as loved ones wave good-bye.
Then the ships crests the horizon as the other shore comes into view...
where the joyful cry goes up…”Here she comes! Here she comes!
I imagine this is what it is like for my soul as I begin to shed those parts of myself that are not my true self. As my inner work deepens, as I am willing to look at who I have become in the world, ways that do not serve me, others or my soul, who I thought I was begins to shatter. These ways...pettiness, caretaking, judging, managing, controlling (need I go on?)...are all shown to me in my dreams. And if I have to courage to feel into these places...stay with the feelings they evoke...I begin to see them for what they are and they begin to heal. There are reasons we are the way we are, ways we tried to survive and cope with tremendous pain and loss. Underneath all this is a very tender wound and the dream knows this. So when I am shown this in a dream it does not come in a way that is scolding or shaming; it just shows me doing what it is I do, in a way that is sometimes challenging, sometimes with a lot of humor...and then I have a choice...to work with it...to feel into how a certain behavior is not my true essence...and in being felt deeply...it moves and can begin to fade...it never had a true essence to begin with.
Back to the image of death…at a recent dream retreat during a poetry/art workshop I drew this image...of me on a ship leaving a detritus strewn shore of negative ego, pride, judging mind, control, non-feeling, safety...those parts of me that have died, are dying...and then cresting the horizon to the sight of the distant shore...I hear the sound of my soul’s song…”Here she comes! Here she comes!”
With love, Mary Jo
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