There is No Way ~ Except to Stay ~ Present

non est ita nisi ut maneat
~Latin For~
There is No Way ~ Except to Stay ~ Present

The Sequel 

The Power of Staying
In and With
The Conversation

Last year in response to our regional flooding,  I wrote a poem titled, There is No Way Except the Way.

This blog is The Sequel to the poetic series, There is No Way, prompted and provoked by the foreboding visitation of Coronavirus on our planet.

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There is ~ No Way

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As I ponder this past week, I am reminded of Pema Chodron’s words: 

   The Obstacle is the Way, and many variations of the premise she proposes in her teachings has whispered wisdom to my soul this past year: 

Pain is the Doorway…
The impediment to action advances action…
What stands in the way becomes the way…
Act with a reverse clause…
What impedes us can empower us…
See each and every obstacle as an opportunity to practice virtue. 

There is ~ No way ~ Except to Stay
Present 

Just this past week, the threat of the Coronavirus became “the way” to open up channels of deeper conversation with several of my treasured colleagues. 

Our vulnerabilities exposed…
This was an extremely uncomfortable position. 

Vulnerability is usually something we defend against.

Why? 

I could cite many reasons why this vulnerability was particularly difficult for me and for them individually, each uniquely.

We each hold our distinctive perspective, our unique position, 
but most importantly, our individual wounding that brought us into this particular helping field.
The dreaded Coronavirus threat had its “way” in doing a work unexpected.
The obstacle became the way.

• Differing tolerances
• Differing philosophical standing
• Differing backgrounds
• Differing political views
• Differing ways to problem-solve

None of that matters in the end

The attachment to being right does not matter.
The attachment of who said “what” first, does not matter.
It becomes evident:

The unconscious attachments hidden…

Held power to sway
and stand in the way 
of “seeing” 
The way…
Clearly.

In the end, all I could say was,
“Thank you, thank you for Staying in the Conversation.”
“Thank you for staying IN the conversation.”

I mused how rare it is 
TO STAY
Few know how to stay.
Few know how to stay present.
Few know how to stay present when triggered.
Few know how to stay present when triggered by misunderstanding.
Few know how to stay present when triggered by misunderstanding and unknowing

as Pema would say…

Stay

S  T  A  Y 

S   T   A   Y 

We all stayed.

That is called commitment in ambiguity.

As we stay, we become infinitely invaluable to each other and we begin “to know” each other “more deeply.”

Today, in our Omaha Friends of Jung group, J. Gary Sparks shared a nuanced phrase that I would like to end this blog. “Take suffering and discover what is it revealing, not to be mistaken for us creating what it means.” 

Gary asked, “How do we face the complex overpowering parts of our life and come out ahead?” He said, “The starting point becomes the endpoint.”

In essence, he and Pema agree with different words of wisdom, 

There is ~ No way ~ Except to Stay
Present