The other morning I woke to the remembering of a dream. I had been in labour, and everything was unfolding normally, until a particular moment when I became utterly convinced that something was very wrong with the baby. Yet, when the care provider listened for the baby’s heart beat, it was beautiful and strong and within the normal range. So what did this dream story offer? As I look back, I can see how the mind, as in waking life, forgot its curiosity, forgot to question, forgot to look for the facts and what was actually true. Instead it pulled at threads from its past to stand in conviction of what it believed to be true.
An invitation for inquiry:
With curiosity, notice those places in your life, where you too have believed that all was lost, where you believed there was no saving the outcome. And then see, if you could slow down enough to recall those moments that may in fact have been fully alive and full of life - where the heart beat continued.
Now drop into this exact moment. Notice where your attention pulls. Is it to a place that is closed, pointed, defined and grieving a loss. Now step back, into the awareness that holds you, and listen for the heart beat. Notice the pause in between the thought, feeling and/or sensation. And, if it is okay, ask yourself, can I allow myself, in this exact moment, to slow down just a little more. What do you notice that may not have been noted in the initial threading of the tapestry of those moments? Where did notice the heart beat?
Julia Stolk