The Light Within Us

“There is a gravity within that continually weighs on us and pulls us away from the light. Negativity is an addiction to the bleak shadow that lingers around every human form…
You can transfigure negativity by turning it toward the light of your soul.”
– from John O’Donohue, Anam Cara, p.200.

We are often drawn to the darkness within us. The darkness in our lives. Negativity can easily become a life force of its own, feeding off of us. However, the more attention we pay to it, the more we believe in its power, the more it grows and roots itself deeper into our soil.

We must learn to continuously focus on the light, not the shadows. Once we learn to do this, it will be as though the light is shimmering and growing right before us, offering us so much more than the darkness ever could.

The darkness is safe; it shades us from the harsh rays of hope and responsibility, for within the world of negativity and shadow, we can remain closed. We can remain safe.

It is not enough to be safe. It is not enough to survive. There is too much within us, waiting to happen. We have too many dreams, too much soul, too much light to share. We are serving nothing by hiding our selves, by setting ourselves aside, or by allowing something or someone else to control or define us.

It is not enough to be safe. We must be reckless. Every now and then, we must throw ourselves into the wind and take the chance to fly. We are strong, much stronger than we know. We can survive the falls; what we can not survive is the darkness. It steals our light, our energy, and manipulates us into believing we are not brave enough, beautiful enough, strong enough, smart enough, something enough! to fly. When, in fact, we have everything we need to make our wildest dreams come true, right there, inside us.

Our soul is patiently waiting for us to have the strength to be reckless.

To clarify, reckless does not mean you need to jump off buildings and have a ridiculous amount of unprotected sex. True recklessness is allowing the wild, roguish parts of our soul to have their way for a while. To find another job, to write that book, hug that person, and not give a damn what anyone is saying about you. To do it, anyways.

It doesn’t have to be forever. We don’t have to be strong every minute of the day. But we do need to be alive. We do need to take responsibility for our lives. It is not enough to blame the darkness. We all have darkness, and it can almost be assured that our darkness is only a fog, permeating our vision but penetrating nothing. Break through it, and we can see.

Break through it, and we are free.

• Favorite
• Report Concern
• Share This
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Add your comment

You need to login or signup to add your comment to this work.

Tags:

courage, dreams, hope, light, responsibility, self, strength and vision