Partnering

In the depth of darkness, what brings lightness? In days of fear, how to drink in courage? In hours of regret, what offers solace, even redemption? Oppositions require partnering. In these days of great imbalance, we must seek, and learn to partner differently so that the extremes do not win. It is a time to face off and see our partner/opponent as parts of self, with as much clarity and objectivity as possible in order to work, and come to fruitful agreements with them. It is the same with any person-partnering as well as idea/feeling collaborations. To build companionship we are required to come from loving intention, knowledge, trust, and acceptance.

A ‘partner’ is simply one who takes part with another. The word is from partiner, (influenced by part;) borrowed from OF parcener, from parcon, portion. We live on a planet of polarities, we are born of masculine and feminine ‘portions.’ We must husband a large number of portions and polarities at every moment in order to survive and thrive. But what and who are these ‘portions’ we dance with, how do we come to understand our romance with them? Romance meaning idealization, a clash with reality. ( I do love that the word ‘romance’ came from ‘something written in a vulgar tongue,’ meaning not Latin.)

Conscious partnering of our allies and our enemies allows for wholeness. We can no longer remain bits pieces/ portions of one, or the other. We cannot be vulgar, or romantic, rather we move forward clear-eyed and realistic, for wholeness is the demand of an adult, not youth. Wholeness is the wish of the ill to be well. Wholeness is what earth seeks as she battles back from the pieces we have torn from her.

The more difficult, read more unbalanced we are in certain directions, the more time and energy we spend coming to center in that area. As the world undergoes this present unbalanced crises, that sages have been foretelling for years, the singular imperative for each of us is to grow balanced and whole so that we may come together in partnership with self, with other, with community, and ultimately the world.

Instead of the usual Asana I thought a short list of small re-balancing possibilities might intrigue:

*For those of us without enough time, the imperative is to spend five totally conscious minutes playing. Playing with an animal, an idea, a pencil over paper, staring at a starry night, a naked tree, whatever dis-engages us from the day and the list, and provokes a small joy. Five minutes of abandon to partner ‘the list.’
*For those dealing with fear, take five to hold a smooth stone, putting all the fear into it. Feel it leaving the body. Thank the stone for holding it. Then do one, just one pro-active step. Honor that step, baby, or not. Do not disparage it for being bigger or grander, or not doing the other eight to100 things on the list.
*Honor what is. Acknowledge what is attempted. Celebrate the bits that do get done. Being dismissive of efforts seems to be a modern dis-ease, with dis-aster written all over it. (‘Dis-aster’ simply meaning ‘against the stars.’)
*Understand and accept that we are never-never-never going to be, do, have, live laugh enough. It is a given. Do not fight that battle every day of your life. Cook life at a different temperature. Allow more, a silver teaspoon of whip cream, spun with dreams.
*Eating the totally forbidden ‘mac & cheese,’ when tasting with relish, can help balance the fear of not having enough. Just as sipping a glass of wine can hold reminders of toasting old friends, inviting that love once more into the heart.
*Address the stress by letting it have voice for ten minutes. You then have to partner it/balance it out with ten minutes of total relaxation. Observe what happens to the voices inside when we listen, honoring what they have to say, and lovingly discipline their time limits. You would not let your child run amok and control you with tantrums, why would you let your mind do the same?
*What do you need in this moment to balance your relationships?