Softening
“I take a deep breath and sidestep my fear and begin speaking from the place where beauty and bravery meet—within the chambers of a quivering heart. ”
We come to threshold moments in our lives when a pivot will change our lives forever….now/today/the present feels like such a moment.
We have lived beside the Skeena River for twelve years and in two more sleeps we will pack up the car with our life’s belongings and head 1400 km south to the Sunshine Coast where I overwintered last year.
Today I gently placed my vessel ‘ache’ in the shallow waters on the banks of the Skeena and watched it slowly soften by the lapping of gentle waters. I reflected on what I was releasing in deciding to offer ‘ache’ to the river.
‘Ache’ carries the pain of trauma and violence that closed my heart to the world and drowned me in the rivers of grief. As I sat watching the softening of a once stiff vessel I felt confident that if any life force could absorb all of ache’s pain and sorrow it would be the Skeena.
As I move across the threshold into a new chapter of my life I vow to speak from the place where beauty and bravery meet. I wish to be softened, to slow down, to take time to feel and listen to more than human Life.
“I could walk forever with beauty. Our steps are not measured in miles but in the amount of time we are pulled forward by awe.”
