During the recent American Herbalist Guild conference, an attendee shared to the group how she felt seen among us as to who she really is. In her hometown of California, where she grew up, among her family and friends, she lamented that she isn’t seen and therefore, feels out of place and frustrated. Can you relate?
As I consider this situation, I believe I can relate. It’s easy to pigeon hole a person into who they seemingly have always been and not allow them to break out of that mold to become a better version of themselves. Often times, hurt, fear, and perhaps safety keeps us locked into a particular mindset causing rigidity and therefore the inability to see with “new eyes.”
In one of the classes at the conference, the speaker gave participants the opportunity to sit with a plant medicine. That meaning, smelling the medicine, tasting the medicine, and then sitting quietly for a few minutes to feel if anything was happening in the body. Previous experiences have left me with very little “feeling.” However, this time, I was able to experience a shift with just one drop of tincture.
The instructor did not tell the group what emotion we were to work with or the plant that provides support for that emotion. Rather she allowed the group to discuss what they had experienced each time. It was an eye-opening experience for me to understand that a mere drop can cause a shift in one’s spirit.
Emotions get stuck inside and often times lives there for years buried deep inside. Every once in a while, there may a feeling of something, but we quickly bury it again because it’s just too painful to deal with. I think of people in my own life who have behaved in a certain way that caused harm and even though they have worked to overcome that behavior, I may be guilty of keeping the old mindset and not allowing change to take place. It’s certainly not easy, but I think prayer and meditation can help. Our minds are amazingly strong and capable to change even when our physical body struggles. In his book, MENTAL TOUGHNESS, authors Moses and Troy Horne describe a study whereby basketball players were divided into two groups. One group went out on the court and practiced while the other group sat and visualized shooting and the ball going in the hoop. When the two were compared as to which group improved, it was the group who visualized who made more shots.
Meditation is an opportunity to get mentally tough and see yourself as a better version of who you desire to be. It’s in those quiet moments of relaxation that our best ideas emerge. Although for me it usually in the car or the shower, and I want to write them down!
If there is someone you are holding down, keeping in a box, or just not seeing with new eyes, I challenge you to pray for that person, meditate on a renewed relationship and watch what unfolds. Forgiveness isn’t for the other person, it’s for you.
*The photo are Turkey Tail mushrooms I found growing on a huge log while walking in a park near the conference hotel.