Inferno 2: Afraid
Words lift your mood and shift your outlook.
I had a tough day yesterday. Nothing earth shattering - just a bad day. We all have them but lately I seem to be having them more frequently than I’d prefer. There is growth in tough times and as I grow wiser, I’ve come to realize the answer might not be trying to make them go away. What if we allow the tough times to linger as long as necessary to teach us what they’re trying to teach us? Maybe they wouldn’t have to keep coming back time and again if they were able to get the message across the first time. I haven’t concluded this experiment yet but when I do, you’ll be the first to know.
In the meantime, let these words lift your mood. I’m currently reading A Guide for a Spiritual Journey by Mark Vernon. Vernon is the perfect guide through Dante’s Divine Comedy. He guides us not just in what happens and what to look for but takes us on a journey to change our consciousness and embrace a more spacious reality. The work is a welcome respite at the end of the day and a mental break from studying The Matter With Things. Last night I came across this passage, describing how Dante felt afraid and hopeless as he entered hell but Virgil’s words brought him comfort.
They lift his mood, a shift that he compares to a small flower that has become closed and limp on a frosty night, and which, warmed by the rising sun, stands up again and opens.
This is exactly how I feel after a tough day. Like a flower, bent and limp from a beating given by the weather outside. Metaphorically and literally yesterday, as I cleared several inches of snow from my driveway in 17 degree weather.
Nature herself offers encouragement. Strength blooms within him. He gathers his desire. He regains contact with his longing to know what is good, beautiful, and true. His outer guide, Virgil, has touched his inner guide, his heart…
As the sun comes up each morning, I stand up again and open myself to what the world has to offer. I’m longing to know what is good, beautiful and true. And words of others, my outer guide, touch my inner guide, my heart.
Let these words be your outer guide and touch your heart.