Pamela Leavey

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Tag: Dark Nights

Reflections: Uncertainty

As I sit here with so much uncertainty in my life, it’s hard to see clearly what the next chapter of my Mid-Life Adventure entails.

Talk about being stuck in a rut… when you end up with a sudden, accidental injury that leaves you disabled for a time, it is a life changing experience in itself. Couple that with empty nest syndrome and being out of work and it’s easy to feel some days, no matter how positive you try to stay, as though the whole world is crashing in around you.

There are days when it is just plain hard to focus. Either there is energy bursting to get out in some creative or physical form, or the mind just goes blank as you seek the light hiding behind the clouds.

Sometimes life just seems so unfair, although you look around and see that so many people struggles are worst than your own. Yet, you stay stuck in that woe is me syndrome… sadness can strike even the strongest of heart and mind.

Drifting, drifting, drifting… the dark nights of the soul, when faith is tested in so many ways, are long and seemingly endless.

There are those who would say to you… Snap out if it. But you can’t. There are those who would tell you… This too shall pass. And you do know deep down inside that it will.

So, you ride the tide of uncertainly, as it wanes and crests and blows through you like the wickedest of winds. And, when the question arises, what is next in this Mid-Life Adventure for me… Truth be told, I have no answers today. I’m busy pondering the great uncertainties on my doorstep and hoping the winds won’t blow me further off course.

(Photo: Afternoon Sky at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

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The Dark Nights Of The Soul

I have alluded here from time to time that I have been on a path filled with struggles in recent weeks. It has been a time that many would call, the dark nights of the soul, referring to a time in one’s life when spiritual practice and discipline suddenly loses all it’s experiential value.

This particular journey through the dark nights of the soul started for me when I had what then seemed like a minor fall in my driveway, on the last full moon, January 8 ~ the Wolf Moon.

That fall however, coupled with other concurring trials and tribulations, has managed to turn my world upside down and leave my soul weary and wondering. (more…)

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Loreena McKennitt: The Dark Night Of The Soul (Live)

Loreena McKennitt performs The Dark Night Of The Soul, live…

Loreena McKennitt has such an amazing voice… she sings so effortlessly and carries you away with her beautiful melodies.

Dark Nights Of The Soul is from the CD Mask & Mirror.

 

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Reflections: Trust

Sometimes the universe heaps so much unsavory matter in our lives, we feel swallowed up by the enormity of it all. It is there, we are in times of deepest despair and sorrow, brought to our knees. Some of us, come to know this time as the Dark Nights of the Soul.

It is here, we lay our troubles ahead of us like an unknown path to a destination that was not on our agenda. Crippled we find ourselves unable to walk the path and find the answers waiting in the light.

But trust we must, that the answers to our questions will be answered if we still our hearts and minds and listen.

It is there in the still of the dark night, that we cry out in anguish that life is so unfair. We weary of the thought of carrying on, because we have been worn down by so much grief.

And so in the darkness, we take one small step at a time, towards the light, with trust and faith that we will be encompassed with the ever glorious light of the universe.

Though the journey might be tough and and the process slower than we wished, we must all take this journey at times in our lives, because it is on this journey that we learn the lessons necessary and gain the strength to move forward in our lives.

The light is there… Trust we must.

(Photo: Parker River Sunset ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

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Reflections: Nothing In The World is Permanent

This quote caught my eye earlier today…

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy. ~~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge, 1943

Reflecting on the subject of taking delight in something “while we have it,” I think back to times of great joy. We know instinctively in the midst of sheer joy, that that joy will not last forever, but we still revel in it while it is happening.

And then, is that joy not our solace, when we slip down into a period of the dark nights of soul. It is there, lost in the dark nights of soul, that we reflect deepest sometimes. And that reflection at first can appear messy, like the reflection of the clouds amidst the winter trees in the marshes.

Difficult as the path may seem, it is taking the journey through the dark nights of the soul that clears our hearts and allows us to find strength in the notion that “nothing in the world is permanent.”

(Photo: Reflection In Hellcat Swamp ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)

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