Thursday 14 February 2013

The words of others




























In these upside-down days, when words continue mostly to escape me, the words of others:


Litlove (Victoria Best): 'anxiety is a hostage situation'
...I’ll tell you what it’s like. Imagine that you are waking up one morning in your own bed. In the first dawning of consciousness, all is well, but then some almost imperceptible doubt creeps in; something feels different, unaccountable. The hair on the back of your neck rises, a shiver runs down your spine. You turn over and there, beside you, is an intruder, masked in black, pointing a gun against your head...
(more)
 
Roselle Angwin: Climbing Down
So, by and by, in the heart of this dark forest, you see – miles away and close at hand – The Tree. Call it the Tree of Life...
...first you need to climb down its ganglia of roots, into the Underworld heart of the dark earth with its dreams and memories, ancestors and becomings.
Every threshold is guarded. Here, on the descent, you do battle with your fears, your regrets, your unmet hopes and dreams, your past, your future, the ways in which you've messed up, been unkind, acted out of ignorance and thoughtlessness.
There will be a question for you.
You have to loosen your pride.
You have to let go of all you know.
(more)

1 comment:

Beth said...

Yes. I've been dealing with some anxieties too, and struggling with my own patterns. I've also been listening to The Life of Pi as an audiobook, and was kind of amused when he talked about dealing with, and mastering, one's own fears -- as a small boy sharing a lifeboat with a royal bengal tiger in the middle of the Pacific! I guess the book can be read as a metaphor, anyway, but I did have to laugh...his solution,of course, is not to destroy the tiger, but to learn how to tame it, and continue sharing the lifeboat with it. I want to learn that too.