Advice for Navigating the Dark - Part 1
For those dark days of winter, both internally and externally.
Advice for Navigating the Dark
When you first arrive
rest a moment
Keep your eyes open
let your depth adjust to see
The senses hold wisdom
known through experience
Hearing sharpens
taste is heightened
the moment full of fragrance
Don’t grope
get down low
grip the ground
feel, listen, wait
Tune in
to intuition and instinct
to senses and sensations
to the rhythm of silence
Ask the questions
feel the stillness
Gift yourself answers
buried in the matter
Awareness offers
an enhanced experience
Presence offers
a depth of being and knowing
The darkness asks us to
surrender into it
Consciousness reveals
what was once concealed
Noticing with emptiness
clears a path forward
When it’s time to go:
Collect the treasures
Connect to your inner flame
Search for a spark within
Love always brings us there
Love alights a lantern
Surely there’s one thing for sure
To bring the light again. 
Image: Winter Frost & Rainbows Collaged into an Egg. Part of an experimental series.
Let’s not shy away from the difficult things, even when we keep a positive frame of mind sh!t happens. That’s life.
“One day in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” ~Sig Freud
Dwelling in difficulties can reveal solutions, and it can also keep us hostage to our thoughts. Feelings are fleeting, yet our minds can stretch them beyond their usefulness. Allowing thoughts to drift away like snow in the wind, gentle or rapid is a helpful tool in meditation. Feelings inform us to act. That action can be to be with them and recognize how to keep going and alchemize.
My poetry is a meditation in many or most cases. It is part of my process for understanding things big and small without getting stuck in the details. For my often over analytical brain (which def works for me in my day job of design engineering and development!), I find letting things go and placing them in the realm of the abstract brings insights later that seem to come from the clouds, and clear space in the now.
As with nature there’s a cycle and seasons in our human world, both natural and not. Up here in the north, in this deep valley of the coastal mountains and against the north face of the T’Zil (Mount Currie) the shadows are high and long. The days feel short as light is low and quick. Only now after many weeks are we beginning to see the outlines of the sun to the south almost cresting the impressive edges of this rock giant. We “lose” the sun in late November and experience a solar return within the next week (oh it is coming!). It’s always different and for roughly 8 weeks we must chase the sun into other parts of the valley, or head through the mountain passes into high country, or simply stay with the dark and keep cozy. Even when we do find it we must play hide and seek with the sun as it lingers low before setting into alpenglow.
Image: Mountain Medicine. T’Zil playing hide and seek with the sun.
Taoist practices of seeking the light within become important. Not running from inner darkness without a level of knowing brings me the knowledge to make these cycles work for me. Our mental, emotional, and physical self care, and community care, requests from us a heightened level of attention. While I’m all for digging in and diving deep into this mystical human experience. We also do well with being gentle with ourselves and others.
When it’s only light for a few hours and on the Pacific Northwest those bright moments are short lived, it can add compound interest to any tougher experiences we are having. In fact, when it is blue sky and sunny here - which def brings a lift to my step - it’s also much colder and appreciating the dark that comes with wet weather becomes a practise rewarded with balmier temps! Always this give and take, right? Taoism teaches us to embrace all sides and parts. The dark and the light, the yin and the yang, make the whole.
Seasonal affective disorder is for reals, no doubt called SAD, and some difficult times in life is almost a given. This year I was able to follow and embrace preventative steps and feel like I’ve championed strategies for solving this challenge for myself. I do not want life to only be one sided. Braving the less attractive moments keeps us from missing the goodness found in the margins or right smack dab in the middle.
If you’re interested in any of my tools and techniques, send me a note and I will publish a vetted list. One thing is I seek to light my inner fire and stoke my radiance following a few avenues. When the sun is not available - I’m a Leo Lioness and the sun is a source of energy and happiness for me - I experiment with alighting from within, my friend and creative playmate Maya calls it innersun.
Self care is a key strategy for living our best and thriving during the worst. In life, we cannot only know the peaks as the valleys hold much rich abundance. Self care is a trusted companion for all the ups/downs and seasons of life. Self care allows us to function at the peaks and even enjoy the dips - we all need breaks! Awareness is an inspired state that elevates observations we can contemplate.
Awareness is a creative journey of ebbs and flow, noticing and responding, trial and error, experimentation, and keen observation. I’ve come to love it and its resounding theme in my life. Being with the experiences and offering yourself a way out is key. There’s a ton of amazing resources out there for wellness on many levels - do your research as there’s as many or more bad sources and all of the information can be confusing. Follow your instinct and learn to trust your intuition.
Like us, self care is a unique journey on a winding path. When we are navigating well, it turns up the dial on spreading love and peace into this world. Make no mistake - self care is a form of activism. Changing things up keeps it fresh, setting up reminders for ourselves on “the things that work” to offer a quick route to get back in the swing, and embracing our ups and downs and all the nuances in between invites us into a well-rounded experience of life. So - how can you care yourself today no matter where you are on the spectrum of living and being?
~Nichola / The Embodied Explorer
All writing and images copyright Nichola Anne Napora / Mystic Peaks Studio
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“Sometimes, it's the stars that are the hardest to see that are the most interesting.” NASA APOD
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The Embodied Explorer is Presented by Nichola @ Mystic Peaks Studios
